As swine fever threat falls, most quarantines lifted

China has lifted pig quarantines in most of the areas where outbreaks of African swine fever have been found, signaling a steady slowdown in the spread of the virus, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on Tuesday.

Since the first outbreak of the deadly pig disease was discovered in August in Northeast China's Liaoning province, 113 cases in 28 provincial-level regions have been confirmed by the ministry. Restrictions on the transport of pigs in 105 of those cases have been lifted.

The ministry has imposed strict quarantine measures in affected areas and ramped up supervision of pig farms, transport businesses and the pork processing industry after the onset of the highly contagious viral disease. Humans are not affected.