Thousands more pigs have reportedly died across Bali in recent weeks, but animal health authorities have yet to identify the suspected virus that has caused the mass swine deaths in the past couple of months.
Yesterday, a report from Berita Bali cited a government official putting the number of dead pigs at 2,804 across the province, while the number of sick pigs stood at 4,107, according to their latest data.
Most of the deaths, according to I Ketut Gede Nata Kesuma, who heads the livestock health department in Bali Agriculture and Food Agency, were recorded in Badung regency at 903 cases, with Tabanan regency reporting 813 pig deaths.
However, a Bali Post report published today, which cited an official from the Agriculture Agency in Tabanan regency, placed the number of swine deaths in their area at 3,602 pigs since Jan. 10.
Though the exact numbers might be difficult to pinpoint with more cases being reported, the situation seems to be escalating as there were only around 1,000 swine deaths reported just last month, according to official data.
Authorities said then that the symptoms exhibited by the pigs prior to their demise were indicative of African swine fever (ASF), but has not confirmed as to what the mystery disease may be at this point. One official jumped the gun in confirming that the mass pig deaths in Bali were caused by ASF in early February, only to retract that confirmation a couple of days later.
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