The African Swine Fever has spread to the adjacent barangay in Calinan after Tuesday’s blood samples sent to the Philippine Genome Center satellite facility at the University of Philippines-Mindanao came back positive for the virus.
Dr. Cerelyn Pinili, the City Veterinarian Office head, told reporters yesterday at the Habi at Kape forum that they are now conducting an inventory of the total hogs in Barangay Inayangan in Calinan for culling.
“It tested positive for ASF, but it is an adjacent barangay, so still covered by the one-kilometer radius,” she said.
Pinili said they are closely monitoring all backyard raisers within the one-kilometer radius of Dominga and Lamanan, the two previously identified barangays that tested positive for ASF.
They took random blood samples and sent them to the Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (RADDL). However, they encountered some technical problems, which forced them to bring them to UP-Mindanao.
“UP-Mindanao has the capability to test,” Pinili said that there were about 22 samples in all.
Department of Agriculture XI regional director Ricardo Oñate said that the positive result can be considered as official.
Pinili said they should complete their inventory soon since there are only a few backyard hog raisers in Inayangan. “These are just hamlets,” she added.
Pinili clarified that the entire barangay is not completely affected by the ASF, but only those areas covered within the one-kilometer radius adjacent to the boundary of Lamanan.
Meanwhile, Noel Provido, chief of the Regional Agriculture and Fishery Information Section, told TIMES that all the surrounding areas of the affected barangays are closely monitored.
“The rule of the DA is that we accept blood samples for free,” he said, adding that they will help with the depopulation and indemnification in case of confirmed cases.
“We will implement protocol 1-7-10 and within the one-kilometer radius, we will start culling,” Provido added.
Protocol 1-7-10 refers to the containment mechanism, where a crackdown will be enforced in the one-kilometer radius (and eventually depopulation of hogs), restricted movements within the seven-kilometer radius, and mandatory reporting for barangays within the 10-kilometer radius.
He revealed that there must be two confirmatory tests undertaken by an assigned government facility.
Provido said that Davao is the only region Mindanao with confirmed cases of ASF. Apart from Davao City, other areas include Don Marcelino, Jose Abad Santos, Malita, and Sulop.
The culling of all 2,343 hogs affected by the African Swine Fever (ASF) in two Calinan barangays was completed on Feb.12,2020 with a total of 536 hog raisers compensated by the city government and DA.
“We have 30 days to disinfect. We gave the farmers disinfectants and sprayers,” Pinili said, stating that two drums intended for disinfection were donated to the two affected barangays.
