Romanian authorities say African swine fever is under control, but the number of infection points has risen by another 120 over the past two weeks and has reached 900, Magyar Hírlap reports.
According to data from national news agency Agerpres the disease has spread to 207 settlements in the country and 232,722 animals had to be culled in an effort to halt further infections.
The EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development went to Bucharest on Thursday to discuss the situation and promised EU financial assistance in combating the disease.
The African swine fever outbreak hit a critical point three weeks ago when it reached the country’s largest swine farm in south-eastern Brăila county, prompting the culling of 140,000 animals. In response to the outbreak, southern neighbor Bulgaria built a 133 km (83 miles) long razor wire fence in four weeks to prevent wild boar movement.
Swine fever doesn’t affect humans but it can be deadly for domestic and wild boars, and cause massive losses for farmers.
The swine fever first appeared last June in the north-eastern Satu Mare county bordering the Ukraine and Hungary and has resulted in the culling of 117,000 animals.
Hungary has ordered fences to be built around swine farms so wild boar cannot infect the animals.
