It’s Baaack

Feb 16, 2021

Asia just can’t seem to shake the African Swine Fever.

After new strains of the virus popped up across China last month, now Hong Kong is facing a test. For the first time in two years, the independent region found ASF in its domestic herd. Authorities ordered 3,000 pigs to be culled.

Here we go again: The last ASF flare-up in 2019 was a fluke. 10,000 pigs imported from mainland China, the epicenter of the pork pandemic, tested positive for the virus and had to be culled.

Zoom out: Hong Kong isn’t alone. New, sporadic cases continue to resurface in other Asian countries. Indonesia, South Korea, and Cambodia are in the mix, attempting to tamper wild boars who are spreading the disease.