Dresden (dpa / sn) – According to the crisis team, African swine fever has not spread further regionally in Saxony. “Currently, the reduced incidence of the epidemic gives reason to hope that we have contained the epidemic,” said the head of the crisis team, State Secretary Sebastian Vogel, on Tuesday in Dresden.
The spread has been slowed down since the summer and the disease is limited to the specified exclusion zone. A total of 1819 cases have been reported since the first outbreak at the end of October 2020 – all from the districts of Görlitz, Bautzen and Meißen. So far, it has been possible to prevent a spread to pig farms, it said.
This year alone, Saxony has invested around 18 million euros in the fight against the animal disease – for example in fences, increased hunting and the biosecurity of pig farms. There is a total of almost 500 kilometers of wildlife protection fence to slow down the spread of the virus. In addition, dead wild boar are searched for with dogs and drones and wild boar are hunted with traps in the exclusion zone. All wild boar shot across the country are also examined for the virus. This year there have been more than 24,600 animals so far, 974 were reported to be positive.
African swine fever is a serious viral infection that affects wild boar and domestic pigs. It is almost always fatal. It is not contagious to humans or other animal species. Vogel warned not to let up in the fight against the epidemic and referred to severe sales problems and losses for local pig farmers. Only if no new case occurs for a year could the restriction zones be lifted.
