Ministry of Agriculture: Report on ASF outbreak in Romania and current situation duly submitted to Presidential Administration

The report on the outbreak of the African swine fever in Romania and the current situation was submitted on Friday to the Presidential Administration, following the relevant public request made by President Klaus Werner Iohannis, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR) announced on Saturday.

"Following the public statements made by President Klaus Werner Iohannis, upon the instruction of Premier Viorica Dancila, the document on the 'Outbreak of African swine fever in Romania and relevant developments' jointly devised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, together with the Interior Ministry's Department for Special Emergency Situations and the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority was submitted to the Presidential Administration," MADR said in a release. 

The document contains information on the occurrences of the disease, current developments and action taken for the prevention, combat and eradication of the African swine fever. 

President Klaus Iohannis urged government authorities to contain the situation generated by the fast spreading of the African swine fever, to urgently take measures to stop the increase in the number of ASF outbreaks, while also requesting the compensation as fast as possible for all affected producers. 

According to data provided by the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA), as of September 6 there were 826 ASF outbreaks in Romania, in 190 localities of 11 counties, with nearly 160,000 diseased or culled pigs. 

"The African swine fever is present in 190 localities in 11 counties with a total of 826 outbreaks (11 of which in industrial commercial holdings, one in a farm slaughterhouse and one in a type A commercial holding); there were also 46 illness occurrences in boars. A total of 159,645 affected pigs have been destroyed," said ANSVSA. 

Compensations so far to ASF-affected pig breeders are in excess of 507,890 lei, but the aggregate worth of the files submitted for assessment stands at over 47.6 million lei, or more than 10 million euro.