China reports new African swine fever outbreak on farm in Beijing with nearly 10,000 pigs

[December 03, 2018]  BEIJING (Reuters) - China's agriculture ministry said on Monday it has confirmed a new African swine fever outbreak on a farm in capital city Beijing, as well as two other outbreaks in Shaanxi and Heilongjiang provinces.

In the capital, the outbreak was reported on a farm with 9,835 pigs in the Tongzhou district, according to a statement published on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. The ministry said 17 had died of the disease, which is fatal to pigs, but does not affect people.

A second outbreak of the highly contagious disease was found on a boar farm in Heilongjiang, killing 77 of a total of 375 animals, the agriculture ministry said.

The case reported in Shaanxi province was found on a farm in Xi'an, capital of the province, with 245 pigs. Some 79 of the 205 pigs infected by the disease had died, the ministry said.

(Reporting by Hallie Gu and Tom Daly; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.