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Authorities confirm outbreak of African swine fever in Hrodna region

The agriculture ministry's Department for Veterinary and Food Supervision has confirmed an outbreak of African swine fever in the Hrodna region.

On June 21, the Belarusian State Veterinary Center established that a hog who died in a village in the Iwye district had caught the deadly virus. The hog belonged to a village resident, according to the department's statement.

Belarus' veterinary authorities are taking a set of measures to contain the spread of the disease, said the statement.

News websites reported earlier this month that hogs had been culled by veterinary workers in the Minsk and Vitsyebsk regions. In April, as many as 20,000 hogs were said to have been slaughtered at a large state-owned farm in the Brest region.

Russia's veterinary watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor on Friday introduced a temporary ban on the import of pork and live hogs from the Hrodna region, citing an outbreak of African swine fever in the area.

African swine fever is a viral disease harmless to people but lethal to hogs. //BelaPAN