TABUK CITY, Kalinga– According to the City Veterinary Services Office (CVSO), no new cases of the feared African swine fever (ASF) have been reported in the city.
Dr. Carmen Wanas, OIC City Veterinarian, said her office has been testing and monitoring ASF on pig farms for about six months, and the results showed that all pigs tested negative for ASF.
With these data, Wanas concludes that the hogs raised within the city are safe to butcher for human consumption unless the ASF resurfaces and makes pork contaminated with the virus illegal to eat.
The veterinarian recounted that the most recent ASF case was in Barangay Masablang on January 29, 2022. Tabuk City will obtain ASF-free status after six months of negative incidence from the last positive case if no new cases emerge.
The CVSO will continue to monitor and conduct surveillance, with the goal of obtaining ASF-free designation from the Department of Agriculture’s Regional Office by July of this year by which time the office plans to petition to the Regional Office of the Department of Agriculture for a declaration of ASF-free status.