Cebu City is ASF-free, says DVMF official

CEBU CITY, Philippines—An official of the Cebu City Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries (DVMF) said on Wednesday, March 8, 2023, that the city remains African Swine Fever (ASF)-free as of the moment.

Dr. Jessica Maribojoc, Cebu City DVMF head, in a press conference, said that the city remains free of ASF based on their latest surveillance monitoring.

She, however, said the DVMF continues to conduct blood collection and information campaign to make sure that the city remains free from ASF.

“As of now, we are still continuing the blood collection as part of the surveillance monitoring and sa karon, naa tay blood collection sa Barangay Babag,” she said. (and presently, we have blood collection in Barangay Babag.)

The Cebu Provincial government earlier confirmed that ASF has been detected in Carcar City, and that the provincial government has currently made corresponding actions to stop its further spread in the province and neighboring cities.

READ: Cebu detects first ASF infection in lechon-famous Carcar City

The Cebu City government started implementing border control against AFT last Jan. 23, 2023. Maribojoc said surveillance monitoring was already conducted prior to that every month.

Among the measures implemented by the city now to prevent entry of ASF in the city’s live hog industry is the confiscation of banned pork products, information campaign, blocking of entry of pork products from banned areas in ports since February, and disease surveillance.

/bmjo

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