Guangdong culls pig stocks amid swine fever outbreak

GUANGZHOU - South China's Guangdong province said Thursday that nearly 2,000 pigs had been culled since the province reported its first African swine fever outbreak on Wednesday.

Eleven pigs were confirmed dead after being infected with the viral disease at a farm in Xiangzhou district in the city of Zhuhai, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said Wednesday.

The agriculture and rural affairs department of Guangdong, which neighbors Hong Kong and Macao, said they had culled 1,940 hogs at the farm and quarantined the area. Inspections and disinfection had also been strengthened in the city's pig farms and slaughterhouses, it said.

The department said no other cases of the disease have been reported in the province, which is a major producer and consumer of pork in China.

The southern province is the 23rd province in China that has reported the outbreak of African swine fever, a highly contagious disease that infects pigs. The disease does not affect other animal species or humans.

China reported its first case of the disease in August in the northeastern province of Liaoning.