New cases of the African swine fever (ASF) epidemic have been uncovered in two small pig-farming households located in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre.

This follows a flock of 12 pigs belonging to a local farming household in Mo Cay Nam district, along with three pigs of a household in Binh Dai district, showing symptoms of the ASF epidemic.

The ASF outbreak was confirmed when the results of the samples taken from the contaminated pig-farming household later came back positive for the virus.

Upon being notified of the results, the administration of Ben Tre province, in co-ordination with relevant agencies, immediately forced all of the infected pigs to be culled before they could initiate the process of decontaminating the entire area.

Most notably, Ben Tre province is home to the largest flock of pigs in the Mekong Delta region, with over 354,000 swine present in the province.

The detection of the latest ASF outbreak has led to local authorities encouraging households and residents to clean up all breeding facilities, whilst also taking preventive measures for the purpose of completely eradicating the epidemic from the local area.