Ministry: Fewer African swine fever cases this year

China has seen vastly fewer cases of African swine fever so far this year compared to the same period last year, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said. 

The country only reported one case so far this year. For the same period in 2019, however, 12 cases occurred, Yang Zhenhai, chief of the ministry's Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine Bureau, told a news conference on Thursday. 

On Tuesday, seven wild boars were found to have died of African swine fever in Shennongjia, a forestry area in Central China's Hubei province. 

The bodies have been disposed of using biosafety techniques and disinfected. No pig was found infected in a screening of local farms, according to local authorities. 

Six bird flu cases have been counted so far this year, almost the same as the yearly average, he said. "Generally, the bird flu situation is stable this year," he said.

Despite that the novel coronavirus outbreak has resulted in some challenges in animal epidemic control work, which, for example, has restricted movement of animal epidemic control workers, the ministry will make all-out efforts to ensure strict implementation of all control measures, he said.