Swine fever: 24 outbreaks, “complex situation, caution required”

“At the moment in Italy there are 18 outbreaks in Lombardy, 5 in Piedmont and 1 in Emilia Romagna”. The Extraordinary Commissioner for African Swine Fever Giovanni Filippini, takes stock of the numbers of African Swine Fever to ANSA. However, “we must be cautious. The situation – he says – is complex but to call it dramatic is an exaggeration. It is a situation linked to an epidemic wave. It is clear – he adds – that there is a lot of concern on the part of associations and breeders, especially those who are in the restricted areas and are subject to the measures and provisions that I have included in the latest ordinance”.

“It is obvious that at the moment I will not issue a further ordinance”, explains Filippini, responding to the concerns expressed by associations and breeders. “The provision is from three days ago. I am waiting for the results that the measures should bring once applied in the farms of the territories included in the restriction zones. Therefore, at the moment we are in a phase of evaluating the results related to the application of the ordinance”.
“We are evaluating the results day and night – he assures – at this moment there is a lot of attention from the commissioner structure and from the ministries of Health and Agriculture on the evolution of the situation in those territories. After that, based on what will be, we are ready to evaluate the situation and also take further measures. It is a dynamic situation”. “Of course, there is concern – he adds – it is obvious, that there is also an enormous sacrifice on the part of the breeders involved in the territories by the infection, we are aware of it. But our objectives are, first of all, to bring the situation back to normal as soon as possible, in quotation marks, because the restricted areas will remain, therefore constraints that we hope will be less stringent than the current ones; and the second objective is not to let the virus escape from the restricted areas towards the areas that are currently free”. (ANSA).