Six African swine fever cases confirmed near Barcelona

The Generalitat’s Department of Agriculture confirmed six new cases of African swine fever in wild boar on Thursday 26 March, all inside the designated high-risk zone. The cases were found in Molins de Rei, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Rubí and Barcelona.

For residents and visitors, access to the Parc Natural de Collserola remains prohibited from all entrances under the Generalitat resolution announced on 12 March, a measure intended to contain the outbreak and allow animal-capture work to continue.

“All six new positive cases were detected within the high-risk zone.”

Cases bring total to 238 since November

The Department of Agriculture said three of the new cases were in Molins de Rei, with one each in Sant Cugat del Vallès, Rubí and Barcelona. The Rubí case was found south of the municipality’s first detected case, in an area where fencing has been installed as a containment measure.

268 samples were analysed during the latest week.
Six samples tested positive, a positivity rate of 2.24%.
Since the first positive result on 28 November, 2,749 wild boar have been analysed.
Of those animals, 238 tested positive and 2,511 tested negative.

Positive cases have now been detected in 10 municipalities: Cerdanyola del Vallès, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Sant Quirze del Vallès, Terrassa, Rubí, Molins de Rei, Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Sant Just Desvern, Barcelona and Sabadell.

397 wild boar captured in the infected zone in a week

Teams captured 397 wild boar in the infected area during the latest week, covering both high-risk and low-risk zones. The total number captured within that area is now 2,762, according to the Department of Agriculture.

The operation involves Agents Rurals, Catalonia’s rural enforcement officers, the Special Forest Fire Prevention Group (GEPIF), Tragsa, hunting associations and the Mossos d’Esquadra, Catalonia’s regional police force. Authorities have installed 271 traps and 82 collective traps, known as pig brigs, in the high-risk zone.

Residents and visitors can check the Department of Agriculture’s official 26 March announcement for updates on the containment operation.

Primary sources: govern.cat, eb.gencat.cat. Reported by Diario Veterinario, Diana Silva, vilaweb.cat, Carlos Ortí, RTVE.es, Cristina Calderer, CatalunyaPress.cat, Belén Mayo, Betevé.