Minister: Second samples should be taken for ovine rinderpest testing

Second samples of blood for livestock plague testing should be taken not only from the village of Bolyarovo but from all the herds within a 20-kilometer zone, the Minister of Agriculture Rumen Porozhanov told BNT programme "The Day Begins" on 23^rd of July.

The farm of Ana Petrova is at a considerable distance, her animals were not in contact with the others, and therefore a second sample should be taken. If it shows no disease, there will be no euthanasia, but the animals will remain under monitoring, the Minister said after Ana Petrova's refusal to allow a veterinary team to take a second sample from her herd.

Rumen Porozhanov, Minister of Agriculture: Seven municipalities have been banned from trading their products. These are just some of the serious economic losses that the spread of the disease is possible to cause.

The Minister is firmly convinced that an organization has been set up so that the compensation of all the farmers whose animals have been euthanized will be paid between 5 and 7 days.

The Minister added that disinfection of all farms where there had been infected animals is to be carried out.

Rumen Porozhanov, Minister of Agriculture: First, we have to establish that are no positive samples, then there is a 21-day period in which quarantine may be removed.

There are over 700 outbreaks of this disease in Turkey, Porozhanov said, but added that it is still unclear exactly how the livestock plague has come to Bulgaria.

The Minister also commented on the measures that Bulgaria will take against African swine fever which is currently on Romanian territory. The prognosis is that it will not be easy, Porozhanov noted.