The Government of the Generalitat maintains until Sunday the current restrictions on access to the natural environment in areas affected by the African swine fever epidemic. From Monday, the six-kilometer zone around Bellaterra will remain closed, but access will be possible to the second exclusion zone, located between 6 and 20 kilometers around where the infected wild boars are located. Strict restrictions will continue to affect 12 municipalities.
The Minister of Agriculture and Livestock of the Generalitat, Òrcar Ordeig, appeared this Friday and admitted that he still had no answers, two weeks later, on the origin of the African swine fever epidemic. “There is an audit underway to see where the epidemic is coming from. I ask for caution and I let the experts make their reports. There are different lines of work open. We are not explaining more things because we don’t know anything else. Next week we will have the first report from the experts.” Ordeig avoided confirming, although he did not rule out, that the leak of the epidemic could be linked – as EL PAÍS argued – to the tests carried out in the facilities of the IRTA-CReSA animal health research center, located on the campus of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), very close to where the first cases were located. “Be careful, all hypotheses are open,” he said simply.
Ordeig’s appearance takes place on the same day that the Central Veterinary Laboratory of Algete (Madrid) detected three new positive cases of wild boars infected with African swine fever (ASF) in Cerdanyola del Vallès (Barcelona), bringing the total number to 16, all located in this municipal area, as reported by the Ministry of Agriculture this Friday. The Veterinary Health Alert Network (Rasve) brings to seven the number of outbreaks declared since the detection of the first on November 27. 115 other animals that died in the wild or found on roads or railways in the infected area and its surroundings were analyzed with negative results.
Within a six kilometer radius, Ordeig assured that kilometers of “physical closures” and fences had been installed to prevent wild boars from escaping. From this point on, there will be a “noticeable increase” in the captures of these animals with the intention that there will be no more animals left in this radius.
The official Veterinary Services of the Generalitat carry out checks and take samples from the 55 farms located in the infected area. At present, no symptoms or lesions consistent with African swine fever have been detected in any of them. Their biosecurity measures were also inspected.
Ordeig is confident that on Monday the radius that extends between six and 20 kilometers will be open so that citizens can walk along the trails and the natural environment. The councilor stressed that his objective is to contain the epidemic, reopen markets and “try to restore trade flows as quickly as possible”, as well as provide information “in complete transparency”.
About The Author
