FILE PHOTO: Pigs are seen on the back of a truck outside a slaughterhouse in Dongguan, Guangdong province, China December 22, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer
BEIJING (Reuters) – China on Thursday confirmed a new outbreak of African swine fever in the Guangxi Autonomous Region, in the country’s south, as the highly contagious disease spreads through the world’s largest hog herd.
The outbreak in the city of Guigang killed 20 animals on a farm of 3,172 pigs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said in a statement on its website.
China has reported 111 outbreaks of the disease in 28 of its provinces and regions since August 2018.
The disease is deadly for pigs but does not harm humans.
Reporting by Hallie Gu and Tom Daly; editing by Christian Schmollinger