The government commissioned the general to review all laboratories working with the African swine fever virus discovered in Barcelona, near where the outbreak was controlled. The decision comes after the Ministry of Agriculture announced yesterday that it was investigating the IRTA CReSA center of the Catalan administration, which is located near the place where the first infected wild boar carcass appeared, as a possible origin of the infection. President Salvador Illa announced that he had commissioned the Minister of Agriculture, Oscar Ordig, head of the Institute for Agricultural Food Research and Technology (IRTA in its Catalan acronym), to review all facilities that worked with this pathogen and review the protocols in which they worked. He said: “The government does not rule out any option, but it does not confirm it either.”
According to Illa, there are no more than five centers involved in this type of investigation in the surveillance area, which the head of the Catalan government did not want to confirm or deny that CReSA is behind the spread of the virus through the Collserola Natural Park. Ila said he hopes to conduct this review “in the shortest possible time and with maximum guarantees of solvency and security.” Meanwhile, Mossos de Escodra and the Civil Guard will work together to prepare the report on the origins of the African swine fever outbreak.
The Center for Research in Animal Health (CReSA) is part of the IRTA network of centers and is a reference laboratory in its field, located within the campus of the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
In his speech, Ila also stressed that there have been 13 confirmed cases of wild boar infection so far, without the virus reaching any of the 55 farms within the 20-kilometre security zone established by the state to try to stop the spread of the disease. On Friday night, the government reached an agreement with the livestock sector to send approximately 80,000 pigs located within the area of the impact of the outbreak to the slaughterhouse so that they can be destined for consumption in Spain. He defended that there is no risk for human consumption.
Likewise, the state intends to publish an economic aid program for the sector in the coming days, which president He indicated that it will be linked to maintaining employment.
Illa went to the Forward Command Center for Swine Fever Containment located in Santa Perpetua de la Mogoda in the midst of the crisis. The animal epidemic has forced the deployment of a thousand police and emergency personnel to protect the natural areas where the epicenter of the disease has been registered and to prevent anyone, in the middle of a festive weekend, from reaching a stretch that affects 91 municipalities.
Mossos d’Esquadra Mayor Francesc Parra highlighted the “exemplary behaviour” of citizens and reported that no fine had been imposed for exceeding these limits. Containment measures aim to prevent the spread of the virus through the monitoring area from exceeding outbreak boundaries through shoe soles, bicycle wheels or other cases.
There is involved in the device Mossos de Escodra (responsible for coordination)Local police, firefighters and civil protection personnel are stationed at fixed checkpoints and on dynamic guard duty extending 20 kilometers around the Collserola mountain range. The first seat belt in the first 6 kilometers has more intensive monitoring procedures.