China urges crack down on concealing African swine fever: agriculture ministry

[March 04, 2019]  BEIJING (Reuters) - China needs to step up its prevention and control of African swine fever, said the agriculture ministry in a statement on Monday, as the disease continues to spread across the world's top pork-producing nation.

Authorities should combat illegal activities such as concealing outbreaks, selling and arbitrarily disposing of sick and dead pigs, and feeding kitchen waste to pigs, said the ministry following a meeting with 18 other ministries.

China has reported 110 outbreaks of the disease in 28 of its provinces and regions since August 2018.

(Reporting by Dominique Patton; Editing by Tom Hogue)

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