The Department of Agriculture on Monday identified nine municipalities in Leyte affected by African swine fever.
Francis Rosaroso, MDA Eastern Visayas information officer, identified the areas as Abuyog, Burauen, Dulag, Javier, La Paz, MacArthur, Palo, Pastrana, and Tanauan.
To prevent the spread of ASF, the provincial government culled 4,000 hogs.
“We are encouraging village officials to man border checkpoints,” Rosaroso said.
He said affected backyard hog raisers would be compensated for the culled pigs.
Pork accounts for 60 percent of meat consumption in the country.
Some 3,989 live hogs and 54,864 kilos of carcasses were delivered from various regions to Metro Manila as of Feb. 21, 5 p.m.
“Of these, 57.33 percent or 2,287 heads from CALABARZON and were bound to slaughterhouses in Muntinlupa Cityand Caloocan City,” the Department of Agriculture said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Quarantine and the Department of Agriculture are on heightened alert after Russia reported the first case of the H5N8 avian flu in humans, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Monday.
“Our BOQ has intensified their border surveillance and control as well as our surveillance of animal health by our DA,” he said in a Laging Handa briefing.
“The two agencies are coordinating to ensure that it cannot enter the Philippines,” he added.
Last weekend, Russia said it informed the World Health Organization about the transmission of the strain to humans.
The flu was detected in seven workers of a poultry farm in southern Russia. The cases did not experience any serious health consequences.
Duque said its symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, muscle ache or numbness, as well as nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting in certain cases.
