The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has lifted the quarantine on nine locations affected by foot and mouth disease in Limpopo.
“The department is pleased to announce that quarantine has been lifted on nine locations, with 10 properties remaining under quarantine. Our veterinary Services are continuously working with the affected farmers to resolve the remaining 10 farms, and good progress is being made in this regard,” said the department in a statement on Tuesday.
In addition, the department said Botswana has lifted the ban on export of live cattle from South Africa.
“The import conditions for export of cattle to Botswana have been revised and a health certificate has been agreed upon. Foot-and-Mouth (FMD) specific import conditions include isolation of animals for at least 30 days whilst preparing for export under supervision of the Veterinary Authority and testing for FMD during this time.”
The agreed upon conditions were provided to the Provincial Veterinary Services and potential exporters are advised to contact their local state veterinarian to familiarise themselves with the requirements for exporting cattle to Botswana.
The department said most trade partners have retained the negotiated agreements for safe commodities.
Updated information has been supplied to the veterinary authorities to provide assurances on the continued safe trade of commodities.
The department emphasised that FMD is not contagious to humans.
“FMD is not contagious to humans and the meat from animals that have recovered from the disease is safe for human consumption. Permission was granted to nine feedlots for the safe slaughter of animals from affected premises at two abattoirs designated for this purpose.”
This process said the department, is continuing and more than 11 000 animals from farms under quarantine have been safely processed. Once all animals on affected properties have been slaughtered, quarantine can be lifted and the farming operations can resume.
Precautions
The department advised livestock owners and traders to take “buyer beware” precautions and to maintain basic biosecurity measures on their farms.
“These measures will also prevent outbreaks of other contagious diseases in your animals, including Brucellosis in cattle and African Swine Fever in the case of pigs,” it said.
Farmers were also warned to only buy animals from known and proven sources and insist on a veterinary health declaration before animals are brought onto your farms.
The department also advised traders to place new arrivals in isolation until they are satisfied with the animals’ health status.
It also warned against the moving of animals that show signs of disease as well as buying animals from unknown origins, or buying animals originating from known infected areas.
The department has warned traders not to allow visitors and buyers to have contact with animals without proper disinfection of their hands, shoes and anything that could transmit the virus.
Survey
“Once the process of resolving all affected premises has been concluded, the department will embark on a general surveillance strategy in the areas affected by the January 2019 and November 2019 outbreaks. Going forward, the outcome of this survey will determine the process of regaining international FMD free zone status,” said the department.
The FMD outbreak in Limpopo started in November 2019 and 19 locations tested positive for FMD.
The last positive location was reported to the World Organisation for Animal Health (also known as OIE) on 26 February 2020 and no new positive locations have been identified since.
In most of the affected locations, more than six months have passed since the last clinical cases, which is a very encouraging sign that the outbreak was successfully controlled. – SAnews.gov.za
