total of 236 pigs infected with African Swine Fever (ASF) have been euthanised in Vukovar-Srijem County, and there are suspected outbreaks at six more locations in this county in eastern Croatia, Agriculture Minister Marija Vuckovic said on Friday.

Speaking to the press after meeting with members of the national ASF response management team, Vuckovic said that a restrictive order had been issued to contain the infection, banning trade in and movement of live animals, trade in products of animal origin outside the county, as well as hunting and insemination.

“We are in close coordination with the State Inspectorate and licensed veterinary organisations. We are hoping to localise and eradicate the infection as soon as possible and thus neutralise this major economic threat to the pig breeding sector,” Vuckovic said.

Veterinary and Food Safety Director Tatjana Karacic said it was not clear at this point where the infection came from. “We have conducted epidemiological tests to check if the source of the infection was wild boars, but there has been no such confirmation so far, so we assume it was the human factor,” she said.

The head of the Vukovar-Srijem County Department of Agriculture, Magdalena Parat, said that the infection had spread to three municipalities — Drenovci, Gunja and Privlaka, expressing hope that it would not spread further. She said that some 152,000 pigs were registered in the county and slightly over 4,000 in the areas affected by the infection.