China detects new African swine fever case in Anhui province

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Hongkong: China on Monday reported another outbreak of the deadly African swine fever in the eastern province of Anhui as the highly contagious disease spreads further in cities that have already reported infections.

China`s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said in a statement on its website that 23 hogs have died and 63 were infected in the new case in Tongling city in Anhui.

The outbreak is the 14th reported in China since African swine fever was first detected in the country on Aug. 3 and the eighth in Anhui alone. 

Cases have been found in five other Chinese provinces, including northeast China`s Liaoning, where the first outbreak occurred, and in some instances have been more than 1,000 km (621 miles) apart.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) last week said around 40,000 hogs had so far been culled in China in an attempt to stop the disease from spreading through the world`s largest pig herd.