The country has detected 972 ASF outbreaks so far this year, up from 514 reported in mid-July 2025.
Vietnam has been hit by an increasing number of outbreaks of African swine fever (ASF), with the number of infected pigs more than tripling in just two weeks, according to reports from local media.
The country has detected 972 ASF outbreaks so far this year, up from 514 reported in mid-July, a local newspaper reported.
The number of pigs infected has risen to more than 100,000 from 30,000 over the same period, according to Vietnam’s Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry. The infected pigs have died or been culled.
“ASF has broken out on a very large scale, spreading across the country, seriously affecting the livestock industry, especially the supply of pork,” Nguyen Xuan Duong, Chairman of the Animal Husbandry Association of Vietnam.
He added that no province is safe from the viral disease.
ASF has disrupted the global pork market for years. In the worst outbreak over 2018-2019, about half the domestic pig population died in China, the world’s biggest producer, causing losses estimated at over USD 100 billion.
Urgent directive from Vietnam’s Prime Minister
The outbreaks in Vietnam in July 2025 prompted Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to send an urgent directive to provinces and government agencies to deploy measures to curb the disease, which the government said was threatening to disrupt food supplies.
Though Vietnam was the first country reportedly to have developed an ASF vaccine that has been in commercial use since 2023, officials said the vaccination rate was low due to concerns about costs and efficiency.
“Vaccination is just a supporting tool that cannot replace basic prevention measures,” Mr Duong said.
Avac Vietnam, the country’s main ASF vaccine producer, did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
The company said in June 2025 it had sold 3 million vaccine doses in the domestic market and exported 600,000 doses to other countries, including the Philippines and Indonesia.
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