Dar: ECQ halted spread of ASF
Published May 13, 2020 12:00 am
By Ellson Quismorio
The ASF (African Swine Fever) was no match for the ECQ (Extended Community Quarantine). Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary William Dar told the House Committee on Agriculture Wednesday that strict quarantine rules in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic has practically deflated the country's ASF problem.
Department of Agriculture Secretary William Dar (Department of Agriculture - Philippines / FACEBOOK / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
"May positive effect yung ECQ kasi po yung mga magbababoy na may balak magnegosyo pa at kasama nila yung hog traders, ay hindi na nila nagawa yung gusto nila mangyari kasi they cannot get out of their respective areas easily," he told congressmen during the virtual hearing.
(The ECQ had a positive effect in that the hog raisers who wanted to continue selling pork to traders didn't get to execute their plan because they cannot get out of their respective areas easily.)
"So that's the positive impact of this ECQ, more or less hindi kumakalat yung sakit (the disease didn't get to spread)," Dar added.
Most of Luzon has been under ECQ since March 15.
The Palace-ordered measure was meant to control the spread of the new coronavirus that causes the deadly and currently incurable COVID-19.
This entails limiting the movement of people by suspending mass transportation and establishing police and military-manned checkpoints on the borders of local government units.
"Sa checkpoints, hindi pinapalampas yung mga nagsasamantala na hog traders na ibenta pa yung mga binili nila sa mga magbababoy at ibenta sana sa ibang probinsya (Unscrupulous hog traders were halted at checkpoints, thus preventing them from selling pork to other provinces)," Dar said.
ASF has a 100 percent mortality rate among hogs. While the ASF virus isn't known to cross over to humans, the mass culling of thousands of pigs afflicted with the disease has been undertaken by LGUs as a precautionary measure since the latter half of 2019.
According to the DA chief, some 282,000 hogs had been depopulated from 210 cities and municipalities across 25 provinces and eight regions. " just 2.1 percent of the total hog inventory ," he said.
"Dito sa aming monitoring ng ASF ay very minimal yung spread (Based on our monitoring, ASF had very minimal spread) although it's present in some of these provinces and municipalities," he added.
Dar also gave House members a welcome update regarding avian or bird flu cases. He said the outbreak was contained in the municipality of Jaen, Nueva Ecija.
"Noong nagawa po natin yung depopulation doon ng 12,000 birds ay we continued to monitor and up to now wala nang outbreak ng virus sa ibang lugar (After we depopulated the area of 12,000 birds, we continued to monitor and up to now there has been no outbreak of the disease from other areas)," he said.
Department of Agriculture Secretary William Dar (Department of Agriculture - Philippines / FACEBOOK / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
"May positive effect yung ECQ kasi po yung mga magbababoy na may balak magnegosyo pa at kasama nila yung hog traders, ay hindi na nila nagawa yung gusto nila mangyari kasi they cannot get out of their respective areas easily," he told congressmen during the virtual hearing.
(The ECQ had a positive effect in that the hog raisers who wanted to continue selling pork to traders didn't get to execute their plan because they cannot get out of their respective areas easily.)
"So that's the positive impact of this ECQ, more or less hindi kumakalat yung sakit (the disease didn't get to spread)," Dar added.
Most of Luzon has been under ECQ since March 15.
The Palace-ordered measure was meant to control the spread of the new coronavirus that causes the deadly and currently incurable COVID-19.
This entails limiting the movement of people by suspending mass transportation and establishing police and military-manned checkpoints on the borders of local government units.
"Sa checkpoints, hindi pinapalampas yung mga nagsasamantala na hog traders na ibenta pa yung mga binili nila sa mga magbababoy at ibenta sana sa ibang probinsya (Unscrupulous hog traders were halted at checkpoints, thus preventing them from selling pork to other provinces)," Dar said.
ASF has a 100 percent mortality rate among hogs. While the ASF virus isn't known to cross over to humans, the mass culling of thousands of pigs afflicted with the disease has been undertaken by LGUs as a precautionary measure since the latter half of 2019.
According to the DA chief, some 282,000 hogs had been depopulated from 210 cities and municipalities across 25 provinces and eight regions. " just 2.1 percent of the total hog inventory ," he said.
"Dito sa aming monitoring ng ASF ay very minimal yung spread (Based on our monitoring, ASF had very minimal spread) although it's present in some of these provinces and municipalities," he added.
Dar also gave House members a welcome update regarding avian or bird flu cases. He said the outbreak was contained in the municipality of Jaen, Nueva Ecija.
"Noong nagawa po natin yung depopulation doon ng 12,000 birds ay we continued to monitor and up to now wala nang outbreak ng virus sa ibang lugar (After we depopulated the area of 12,000 birds, we continued to monitor and up to now there has been no outbreak of the disease from other areas)," he said.