Agri Dept orders vaccines for foot-and-mouth disease in KZN
This comes as assessments and tracing efforts for the outbreak in Gauteng continue.
Cows graze on a township field in Cape Town. Picture: Ashraf Hendricks/GroundUp
JOHANNESBURG - The Department of Agriculture has ordered vaccines for foot-and-mouth disease to cover the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) area.
This comes as assessments and tracing efforts for the outbreak in Gauteng continue.
This week, livestock farmers in KZN called on the government to declare the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak a regional disaster.
The disease can affect cattle, swine, sheep, goats and other cloven-hoofed animals, but poses no direct health risk to humans.
It does, however, pose the risk of shortages in the supply of red meat.
Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen said: "Foot-and-mouth [disease], of course, has been with us since 2016, and we’ve seen provinces come in and out of foot-and-mouth status. It all comes down to adhering to the biosecurity regulations that govern the movement of animals as well as the auctioning of animals."
ALSO READ: South Africa's largest beef producer confirms foot-and-mouth disease at its Heidelberg facility