Kerala
The Centre on Sunday said around 310 pigs have been culled in Kerala’s Thrissur district after an outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF). The outbreak was detected in Madakkatharan Panchayath, prompting swift action from the state’s Animal Husbandry Department.
Rapid Response Teams were deployed to cull and dispose of pigs within a 1 km radius of the epicentre on July 5, the Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying said in a statement.
This marks the latest incident in the country’s ongoing battle with ASF, which first appeared in the northeastern states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh in May 2020. Since then, the disease has spread to approximately 24 states and union territories across the country.
Further surveillance as per the action plan is to be carried out within a 10 km radius of the epicentre, the ministry said. Despite the outbreak’s severity, the government was quick to reassure the public.
ASF is not zoonotic. It cannot spread to humans, the ministry clarified. However, the lack of a vaccine for ASF underscores the challenges in managing animal diseases, it added.
The National Action Plan for Control of ASF, formulated in 2020, outlines containment strategies and response protocols for outbreaks. Even as the country faces a new outbreak of ASF in Kerala, the central government marked World Zoonoses Day on July 6 with an interactive session.
