MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

African swine fever kills 3.000 pigs in Indonesia

The ministry said 2,825 pigs had died by Thursday in five areas of East Nusa Tenggara

Indonesia is tightening curbs on the transport of pigs and pork products after nearly 3,000 animals died in a new outbreak of African swine fever in an eastern province bordering East Timor, the agriculture ministry said on Friday.

 n a statement, the ministry said 2,825 pigs had died by Thursday in five areas of East Nusa Tenggara. The curbs will also be enforced along the border with East Timor, where cases had been reported since late in September.

“I have asked officers and quarantine authorities to tighten transport of live animals and products from East Timor,” I Ketut Diarmita, the ministry's director-general for livestock and animal health, said in the statement.

The ministry has sent teams to determine the source of the infection, carry out disinfection and stiffen bio-security measures, he added, urging farmers not to sell sick animals and to dispose of pig carcasses properly.

The province has a pig population of about 2.1 million, government data shows. The latest outbreak comes after the disease emerged in the western province of North Sumatra to kill more than 47,000 pigs by Monday.

On the tourist resort island of Bali, more than 1,700 pigs have also died of suspected swine fever.