Thailand puts 24 provinces on alert in swine fever watch

Thailand has designated 24 provinces as “surveillance areas” for African swine fever and ordered strict animal controls in hopes of preventing an outbreak of the deadly disease that has hit its neighbours, an agriculture official said on Friday.

Thailand has been on high alert since the outbreak of African swine fever among pigs in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, but it has yet to report an outbreak.

Earlier this month, the government ordered the culling of 200 pigs as preventative action after two pigs died mysteriously in the northern province of Chiang Rai, 20 km (12 miles) from the Myanmar border.

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