At the Cabinet's weekly meeting Thursday, Premier Chen Chien-jen received a Ministry of Agriculture briefing on measures to guard against African swine fever (ASF) and protect Taiwan's pig population. The premier said preparations must be made to combat ASF during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday period when large crowds of inbound travelers may bring animal products into the country. He directed all relevant government agencies to strengthen border control measures on luggage, cargo transport, delivery services and mail packages.
The premier said outbreaks of ASF remain severe throughout the world, currently affecting 17 Asian countries and newly spreading this year to countries such as Singapore and Sweden. In Taiwan, ASF testing still has a positive detection rate of 9.3% among confiscated pork products that were carried or discarded by travelers at airports and seaports or that were illegally sent through international mail or delivery services. In recent days, a new genetic variant of the ASF virus was also detected for the first time in confiscated pork products brought by a passenger transiting to Taiwan. To confront the international spread of ASF, all agencies involved with border control must work together to fully enforce disease prevention measures and eliminate any possible risk of entry.