The Catalan government has called on the Military Emergency Unit (UME) and confirmed that, for now, swine fever has not reached any farms in the affected area.

BarcelonaThe Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, and Food, Òscar Ordeig, confirmed this Sunday that the African swine fever virus has not reached any of the farms surrounding the area where infected wild boars were found. "We confirm that we are talking about positive cases in wild boars and that it has not reached any farms," he said at a press conference in Lleida. So far, the positive and suspected cases detected are in wild boars, and they have been found in the municipality of Cerdanyola del Vallès, next to the Collserola Park, where some 900 wild boars live. Tests carried out on the 39 farms within a six-kilometer radius of the area where the sick animals were found have ruled out the presence of the virus in any farmed pigs. Nevertheless, Ordeig called on livestock farmers to take extreme biosecurity precautions, paying particular attention to farm fences and monitoring entry and exit points to prevent the spread of the outbreak, the first in the country since 1994. Ordeig, who noted that the characteristics of the area where the violations have been found—"limited by a lot of infrastructure, a lot of roads"—are helping to control the virus, also asked the public to respect the mobility restrictions in Collserola Park. He warned that those who do not comply will face fines and that the police will have "zero tolerance" for non-compliance. "We are in a health crisis," he said. Ordeig argued that controlling cases of African swine fever "is not just a matter for livestock farmers and the food sector, but also a national issue; it must be done well and quickly, allocating all the necessary resources."

Restrictions and sanctions not specified

Throughout Sunday, the government intensified controls and surveillance at the entrances to Collserola to prevent people from entering and potentially spreading the African swine fever virus that affects wild boar. However, the restrictions did not prevent some people from visiting the area, most of whom claimed they were unaware of the ban. For example, at the entrances to Collserola Park in the border area between Sant Just Desvern and Esplugues de Llobregat, Civil Protection officers encountered several people attempting to enter on foot or by bicycle. In fact, the signs on the two fences that partially blocked access also included an exception for residents and restaurant businesses. As in other parts of the park, this area contains some houses and a restaurant, which is permitted to continue its normal operations and can therefore be accessed via the road. In addition to the cars heading up to the restaurant, several people also passed through this area during the morning, returning from their walk. They were surprised to see the barriers and the Civil Protection vehicle because they hadn't encountered any warnings about the restrictions at the point where they had entered.

Regional Minister Ordeig has announced sanctions and a "zero tolerance" policy for those who do not respect the restrictions, although for now, the amounts of these fines and the regulations under which they would be imposed have not been specified. In this regard, police sources point out that the fines imposed during the state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic were later... worthless paper due to lack of legalitySources from the Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food, consulted by ARA, indicate that they have no estimate of how long the restrictions might last. "Collserola will remain closed until we consider it safe," they assure. For the time being, they also do not foresee extending the restrictions to restaurants and other establishments within the immediate vicinity of where infected wild boars have been found. For example, the department adds, part of the campus of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) lies within this radius, and there is no impediment to the faculties continuing with their normal activities. Besides Collserola, three other natural parks in the Barcelona area have suspended several activities this Sunday as a result of the African swine fever outbreak. These include the guided tour of the Mura cave in Sant Llorenç Park; the mushroom walk in Marina Park; and the visit to Sant Miquel del Fai.

This Sunday, wild boar captures were also carried out in Collserola Park with more personnel than were working on Saturday. The teams have already covered 70% of the six-kilometer radius established from the point where the first infected boars were found. Regional Minister Ordeig explained that the captures are being done with cages, traps, and repellents, not with the roundups usually carried out by hunters, because this could frighten the animals, and it is preferable to keep them within a defined perimeter. To reinforce the operation, the Catalan government has requested that the Military Emergency Unit (UME) send personnel from its specialized hunting unit. This Sunday, the UME (Military Emergency Unit) has already mobilized a reconnaissance team from the technological and environmental emergency intervention group, and plans to send more personnel this Monday to join the work with the Rural Agents, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan Police), Civil Protection, forest defense volunteers, local police, and the Seprona (Nature Protection Service) of the Civil Guard. In addition to the six-kilometer radius where the captures are taking place, a second, twenty-kilometer radius has also been established, affecting 76 municipalities in the Barcelona area, where surveillance has been intensified on livestock farms and among wild boar populations. Four cases are pending confirmation.

Regarding the infection figures, Ordeig noted that there are currently two officially confirmed cases and four pending confirmation. In these latter cases, preliminary tests conducted at the Animal Health Research Center (IRTA-CReSA) have come back positive, but official confirmation, which falls under the purview of the Ministry of Agriculture, is still pending, as the regional minister clarified. Ordeig confirmed that more dead animals have been found and that all suspected cases of infection are located near Cerdanyola del Vallès, but declined to provide figures on the number of positive results from preliminary tests or the number of reports received from citizens who have found pigs; "No, we should be reporting the new cases every day." Furthermore, many test negative.

According to Efe, in recent days more than a dozen dead wild boars have been collected in the Cerdanyola del Vallès area, including the two confirmed cases and the four pending a second evaluation.