Aizawl, Mar 23: The highly contagious African Swine Fever (ASF) which wreaked havoc in Mizoram last year, killing over 33,000 pigs, has again been reported from villages in a few districts of the bordering state, according to officials.

Officials of the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary (AH & Vety) Department said that fresh pig deaths were reported recently due to ASF in villages like Champhai and other districts.

An official of the AH & Vety department said that they have asked the department officials to send daily reports of the fresh ASF outbreak to the directorate in Aizawl. If the details of all affected districts are found, the exact number of pig deaths would be known.

Chief Secretary Renu Sharma called an urgent meeting on Wednesday to review the situation and to finalise the strategies in order to prevent further spread of the infectious disease.

The extremely contagious ASF was first detected in Lungsen village of Lunglei district in March the year before and subsequently, it has spread to all the 11 districts claiming the lives of 33,417 pigs, affecting over 10,000 families causing financial loss of Rs 61 crores.

Around 11,000 pigs were culled last year and compensation for culled pigs amounted to around Rs 12 crore which was sought from the Central government.

Officials stated that ASF related pig deaths were not reported since December 2021, but of late fresh cases have been reported.

According to experts, the outbreak of ASF may have been caused by pigs or pork imported from neighbouring Myanmar, Bangladesh and the adjoining states of northeast.

The northeast region’s annual pork business is worth around Rs 8,000-10,000 crore, with Assam being the largest supplier.

Pork is one of the most common and popular meats consumed by the tribals and non-tribals in the region.