Since the first confirmed case of African Swine Fever in Germany (10th September 2020), up to 40 wild boar carcasses have been found and confirmed also positive for this highly contagious disease.
The first cases were detected in the same area of Brandenburg, but recently an isolated case was also detected 60 km away from the rest. Up to now, the disease has been detected in wild boar, while farm pigs are not affected, but experts are expecting to find more cases in the following weeks.
The analysis of the first case showed that the animal could have died in July, so probably the disease has been circulating since then.
African swine fever is not dangerous to humans but it has a huge economic impact in the local pig industry and also indirectly to the global economy. For example, even if domestig pigs are not affected, pig importing countries such as China (the first pork producing country worldwide) cut off the imports from Germany due to this outbreak. Germany has been the largest pork producer in the European Union and exports near to 40% of production, especially to China.
Pig farmers face a very challenging situation along with the COVID-19 crisis.
Source:
Reuters: https://es.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN26M6B6