Philippine authorities confirmed that dead pigs found on several farms around Manila were indeed infected with African swine fever.
Manila officially announced that the unusually high mortality of pigs in parts of Hinterhof around Manila is actually caused by African swine fever. Philippine Agriculture Minister William Dar has since confirmed this.
Blood samples of dead pigs that were sent to the UK for PCR confirmed suspicions. According to the published data, 20 out of 14 blood samples tested gave a positive reaction to ASF.
Most blood samples came from Rizal and Bulakan provinces. In the affected areas, more than 1,400 pigs were culled within a radius of 1 km. around settlements. How ASF virus has appeared in the Philippines is still unclear.
Authorities suspect the virus is caused by residues or liquid waste from hotels and restaurants that are fed to pigs or imported pork products.
After the Asian part of Russia, China, North Korea, Mongolia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, the Philippines is currently the ninth Asian country affected by African swine fever. In 2017, the Philippines kept 12.4 million pigs.
Only 4.7 million of them are in commercial pig farms. Most of them, about 8 million pigs, are kept in small personal households of citizens.
