This is the first instance of the African swine fever in the country following outbreaks in nearby Poland and Lithuania in January.
On 3 July, the Latvian government declared a state of emergency and issued a 5,000sq km quarantine area in the southern area of Latvia, bordering Belarus and Lithuania. The emergency area will stay in effect until 1 October. Latvian state police have been charged with setting up checkpoints along roads in affected areas to ensure live pigs are not being moved illegally out of the quarantine zone.
Belarus has put a temporary ban on the import of pork products from Latvia, and Russian veterinary watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor has announced a ban on the import of finished Latvian pork products. As Russia is the biggest export market of Latvian pork products, the impact is potentially huge.
Guntis Piteronoks, head of the Rēzeknes gaļas kombināts (Rezekne meat factory), located in the affected area, explained that the Russian market makes up about €500,000 of its profit. Currently, the factory has had to let its 50 employees go on temporary holiday, until the situation improves.
"In 2013, according to provisional data, Latvia produced 35,900 tonnes (t) of pork and exported 14,300t of live pigs. We assume that the purchase price could be reduced by about 20% – to become €139.40 per 100kg," said Dagnija Muceniece, a specialist at the Latvian Ministry of Agriculture.
"After the discovery of the disease, PVD [the Latvian Food and Veterinary Service] immediately commenced the implementation of disease control measures to prevent any further spread. PVD is visiting all of the farms to see if there are kept pigs and blood samples are being taken for laboratory examination," said its director Māris Balodis.
As of 4 July, PVD inspectors had checked 2,168 farms in Latvia for the disease.