Catalonia reports first week without new African swine fever cases in wild boar since November

Catalonia records a week with no new cases of African swine fever in wild boar, signalling potential progress in containment efforts amidst ongoing restrictions and surveillance.

Catalonia has reported a week without any new African swine fever cases in wild boar, the first such lull since the virus was confirmed in the region last November, according to the Generalitat’s agriculture department and local reports.

Officials said 302 samples from the high-risk zone tested negative, a result that was welcomed as evidence that containment measures are having an effect. But the authorities were careful not to suggest the outbreak was over. Restrictions on access to natural areas in the affected municipalities remain in place, and the eradication campaign continues unchanged.

The high-risk area covers parts of 19 municipalities in Catalonia. During the latest week, 333 wild boar were also captured within the infected zone, bringing the total caught since operations began to 10,727.

The pause in detections comes after a difficult period. Reuters and Spanish media reported in February that the virus had spread beyond the original core zone, prompting an expansion of controls after cases were found in and around Molins de Rei. More recent surveillance figures reported by trade analysts indicated that Catalonia had recorded hundreds of positive wild boar cases across multiple municipalities, though no infections had been confirmed in domestic pigs.