Staff of the Agriculture and Rural Development Department in the Mekong Delta province of Hậu Giang checks the obey of animal quarantine for pork meat at a slaughterhouse in the province.— VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính has ordered the concerted, drastic and effective implementation of solutions to prevent and control diseases on livestock and poultry, as a risk of a continuous spread is looming.

In his dispatch sent to leaders of provinces and centrally-run cities and several ministries, the Government leader asked the Chairpersons of the local People's Committees to direct and mobilise legal resources to completely handle outbreaks and prevent new ones from arising; cull infected or suspected animals; proactively carry out measures and policies to support affected farmers; and promptly detect, prevent, and resolutely handle cases of trading and transporting sick animals, and dumping dead ones that spread diseases and pollute the environment.

It is essential to carry out the vaccination against diseases for livestock, ensuring that at least over 80 per cent of the total available livestock are inoculated as soon as possible, he stressed, asking for a timely and effective implementation of vaccination against avian influenza, rabies, African swine fever, foot-and-mouth disease, and others.

The Government leader emphasised the need to step up the dissemination work to raise farmers’ awareness and responsibility about the risk of epidemics and measures to prevent and control them.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development was required to coordinate with other ministries, sectors, and localities to focus on directing, guiding, promoting, and inspecting disease prevention and control in localities; and to closely monitor the epidemic situation to ensure early detection and warning and thorough handling of outbreaks.

The Ministry of Health must provide professional and technical directions and guidance, and enhance inspection of and supervision over the prevention and control of diseases transmitted between animals and humans, while the Ministry of Industry and Trade must strengthen market management, and proactively detect and strictly handle cases of transporting and trading animals and products of unknown origins on the market.

Statistics show that so far this year, African swine fever has been reported in 410 communes in 40 provinces and cities, with 17,400 animals culled, up 53.74 per cent year-on-year, while foot-and-mouth disease has been seen in 44 communes of 13 provinces and cities, rabies in 34 provinces and cities, popular dermatitis in over 60 communes of nine provinces, and A/H5N1 bird flu in seven provinces.

Notably, one person died from being infected with the A/H5N1 bird flu virus and another was infected with the A/H9N2 bird flu virus.— VNS