TAIPEI: Taiwan reported its first cases of African swine fever on Wednesday and authorities culled at least 195 pigs and ordered a ban on the movement and slaughter of pigs across the island.
The Ministry of Agriculture said that samples from dead pigs from a farm in the coastal city of Taichung had tested positive for African swine fever on Tuesday.
Animal protection and quarantine authorities immediately went to the farm and “preventively culled 195 pigs,” the ministry said. The authorities then supervised the cleaning and disinfection of the farm and established a control zone with a radius of 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) from the center of the affected farm.
Authorities also ordered a five-day ban on the movement and slaughtering of pigs across the island starting at noon on Wednesday.
Taiwan will isolate the virus strain before officially reporting it to the World Organization of Animal Health, Agriculture Minister Chen Junne-jih said in a press conference.
“However, virus isolation takes two weeks, but we can’t wait,” Chen added. “We must implement the highest standards to prevent and control this suspected case of African swine fever.”
African swine fever, which is nearly always fatal to swine, does not affect humans or other animals outside of the pig family.
This is Taiwan’s first-ever reported case of the virus, Chen said. The island prohibits bringing in any meat or meat products without proper inspection and quarantine, with fines up to 1 million Taiwan dollars (about $32,500).
“The most likely route of transmission is from outside Taiwan, through the illegal importation of pork products, which ultimately find their way to pig farms through food waste systems,” Chen added.
In 2019, millions of pigs were culled in China and Vietnam as the virus spread through Asia.
Currently, the only Asian country with a confirmed ongoing African swine fever outbreak is South Korea, according to the World Organization of Animal Health’s October report on the virus situation worldwide. Twelve countries in Europe are also battling the virus.
Taiwan reports its first case of African swine fever
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Taiwan reports its first case of African swine fever
- Taiwan will isolate the virus strain before officially reporting it to the World Organization of Animal Health
US lawmaker Fine criticized by rights advocates, Democrats after anti-Muslim remarks
- Fine’s past comments include calling for the mass expulsion of all Muslims from the US, labeling of Muslims as “terrorists” and the mocking of the starvation and killing of Palestinians in Gaza, among others
WASHINGTON: Rights advocates and multiple Democrats on Tuesday condemned anti-Muslim comments by Republican US Representative Randy Fine who said on Sunday that “the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.”
Fine, whose comments against Muslims have often sparked outrage, has dismissed the criticism and since doubled down on his remarks on social media. The Council on American-Islamic Relations designated the Republican US lawmaker from Florida as an anti-Muslim extremist last year.
“If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one,” Fine said on X on Sunday in a post that had over 40 million views as of Tuesday afternoon.
Some high-profile Democrats including California Governor Gavin Newsom called for him to resign while House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called Fine an “Islamophobic, disgusting and unrepentant bigot.”
Jeffries also called for Republicans — who hold a majority in both chambers of Congress — to hold Fine accountable.
“To ignore this is to accept and normalize it,” Democratic US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said. Fine’s past comments include calling for the mass expulsion of all Muslims from the US, labeling of Muslims as “terrorists” and the mocking of the starvation and killing of Palestinians in Gaza, among others. Rights advocates have noted a rise in Islamophobia in the US in recent years due to a range of factors including hard-line immigration policies and white-supremacist rhetoric, as well as the fallout of Israel’s war in Gaza on American society.
