GEORGE TOWN (Jan 7): Another pig farm in Valdor, South Seberang Perai near here was shut down on Saturday (Jan 7) due to a positive case of African swine fever (ASF).

The closure was carried out by the Penang Veterinary Services Department (JPV), with this being the second ASF case involving two pig farms in the state so far.

Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said he attended a management meeting regarding the matter on Saturday morning.

"The ASF case involves a second pig farm in South Seberang Perai, and immediate action has been taken to close the farm in order to cull more than 1,000 livestock there.

"As the Valdor area (in South Seberang Perai) has 42 pig farms, we have decided that this disaster will be upgraded from the district to the state level, because the district office (SPS) only has limited resources," he told reporters after officiating the LovePENANG Carnival in Padang Kota Lama here on Saturday night.

Chow said he had also instructed State Secretary Datuk Mohd Sayuthi Bakar to hold a state-level disaster management meeting on Sunday to discuss the ASF issue.

Meanwhile, the Penang Veterinary director Dr Saira Banu Mohamed Rejab said that after the JPV got a positive result involving the livestock in the farm on Saturday morning, it ordered the farm to cease operations immediately.

She said that based on the state JPV’s census data, there are 124 pig farms in Penang involving a total of 267,348 pigs.

On Friday, Bernama reported that an ASF case had been detected in a pig farm in Valdor, Sungai Bakap in South Seberang Perai and the farm was shut down to cull the livestock.