4,848 pigs have died in Mizoram due to ASF since February this year

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As many as 4,848 pigs and piglets have died in the outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) since its recurrence from February this year, according to data released by the state Animal Husbandry and Veterinary department on Sunday. Thirty-nine pigs died on Sunday due to ASF, the data said.

So far, 4,077 pigs have been culled to prevent further spread of ASF and 11 pigs were culled on Sunday, it said. The highly contagious pig disease has currently affected 68 villages and localities in nine out of 11 districts of the state, the data said.

Earlier, state Animal Husbandry and Veterinary minister Dr K Beichhua had said that the state government would soon declare the ASF outbreak as a state disaster. He said farmers, who lost pigs due to ASF will be compensated for their losses once the outbreak is declared a disaster.

The minister had also said that the Centre has already released funds to compensate the culled pigs and assistance would be released once the state government meets its matching share, which is 50 percent of the fund sanctioned by the Centre. The outbreak of ASF was first reported at Lungsen village in south Mizoram's Lunglei district near the Bangladesh border on March 21 last year.

As many as 33,417 pigs had died due to the outbreak of ASF last year causing monetary losses to the tune of Rs 60.82 crore. A total of 10,910 pigs have also been culled to prevent further spread of ASF in the same year.

Initially considered more or less contained as no pig death due to ASF was reported since December last year, the highly contagious pig disease resurfaced in February this year. Mizoram has already banned the import of pigs and pork products from other states and countries on April 2.

Mizoram shares inter-state boundaries with Assam, Manipur, and Tripura and international borders with Bangladesh in the west and Myanmar in the east.