China confirms African swine fever outbreaks in Sichuan, Hubei provinces

SHANGHAI: China confirmed outbreaks of African swine fever in its key pork producing provinces of Sichuan and Hubei, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said in a statement on Saturday (Mar 6).

The cases were detected in Aba prefecture in the southwestern province of Sichuan, and the city of Xiangyang in the central province of Hubei.

The outbreak killed 38 pigs on a farm of 127 hogs in Sichuan, China's largest producing province. In Hubei, the disease was detected on a truck of piglets being transported illegally from another province. Of 165 piglets, 10 were infected, and five had died.

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China is the world's top pork producer and consumer. A large outbreak of African swine fever wiped out about half of the country's herd in 2019, a year after it reached the country.

China also reported an outbreak earlier this week in the southwestern province of Yunnan.