The culling of all hogs affected by the African Swine Fever (ASF) in two Calinan barangays was completed yesterday, the city veterinarian said.
The City Veterinarian’s Office (CVO) said all 2,343 affected hogs have already been culled in Lamanan and Dominga and the 536 hog raisers were compensated by the city government and the Department of Agriculture (DA).
CVO head Dr. Cerelyn Pinili also directed the personnel involved in the culling operations to observe a downtime of three days.
“This means that personnel are not allowed to visit other barangays to prevent incursion of the disease in other areas,” Pinili said in her report.
She said that vehicles and other equipment used during the operation will also be cleaned and disinfected daily for the next three days.
As there is still an uncertainty whether the ASF virus has been eliminated after the culling operation, Pinili said that affected barangays will still undergo decontamination and disinfection activities by individual hog raisers daily for 30 days.
“If possible, no pigs will be reared anymore. In case repopulation is considered, rearing will be allowed after 90 days provided that all infected materials were disposed properly and thorough disinfection has been properly conducted,” she said.
Pinili said that there are still restrictions on the movement of pigs until further advice.
She met with barangay captains of the areas last Wednesday covered by the 1-7-10 kilometer radius of the ASF-affected barangays to “inform them of the current ASF situation in Davao Region and advise them to conduct mandatory disease reporting in their areas of responsibility.”
The disease surveillance of areas within the seven kilometer radius of the two affected barangays will still be conducted and the rest of the barangays will be monitored through mandatory disease reporting.
Affected barangays are also ordered to conduct monitoring in their area and see to it that proper disinfection is followed. All entry and exit points will be manned by the concerned barangay to carry out disinfection of vehicles that will enter their areas of responsibility.
Pinili said the revised schedule for slaughterhouse operations in the city continues to be implemented.
“No major concerns have been observed and operations are running smoothly,” she said.
“We continue to enjoin everyone to cooperate to contain the disease. The consuming public is assured that meat that passed through proper inspection procedures in slaughterhouses are safe to eat,” she said.
