Long An province was the last victim of African swine fever, making Bon Tre the only area in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta that has not yet been affected by the disease.
According to the deputy head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Long An Din Thi Phuong Khan Province, a herd of 41 pigs in the Dyk Hoa area in the Mekong Delta began to die earlier this month.
It was later found that animals were infected with African swine fever. The remaining pigs in the herd were slaughtered.
The Duc Hoa area is adjacent to Cambodia, Ho Chi Minh City and other infected areas, so it was difficult to prevent the swine fever from entering the province, the Long An Province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said.
African swine fever also struck the outskirts of Can Tho and 10 other provinces, leaving Ben Tre to be the only place free from African swine fever.
According to officials, the disease reached Saigon last week, infecting a pig farm in a remote ninth district. More than 160 pigs were rejected.
To date, cases of ASF have been reported in 59 of 63 provinces and settlements in Vietnam. Since the first detection of ASF in early February this year, at least 2.45 million pigs have been culled in the northern region of Vietnam.
According to some estimates, the country has already lost over $ 154 million due to this disease, including the costs associated with selecting infected pigs and spraying the affected areas with disinfectants.
