Czech Import Ban from Foot-and-Mouth Disease Hit Regions

Trucks backed up at the Rajka (Hungary-Slovakia) border crossing after Slovakia tightened controls

So far, no cases of foot-and-mouth disease have been detected in the Czech Republic, but the Czech authorities are stepping up preventive measures in view of the proximity of the outbreak, Czech Agriculture Minister Marek Výborný told a press conference in Prague on Monday after a telephone call with his Slovak counterpart.

The Czech measure affects

Slovakia, Hungary, Lower Austria and Burgenland (Austria) from which countries imports of certain animal products have been banned since midnight on Monday.

At the Czech-Austrian border, checks on 3.5-ton trucks have been extended to the Gmünd-Halámky border crossing.

Checks on milk from farms in southern Moravia are planned to start on Tuesday, as milk is the earliest source of the disease. The checks will apply to all farms with more than 100 cows. In the Slovak border districts of Breclav and Hodonín, checks will also apply to smaller farms.

Our aim is to detect any suspected cases as soon as possible. Usually, the disease can be detected in milk three to five days earlier,”

the Minister of Agriculture explained the decision.

The Minister stressed that farmers in southern Moravia should not import young goat and lamb meat from Slovakia in the run-up to the upcoming Easter holidays, as has been the practice in the region. “This would be a serious risk, a gamble in the current situation,” he underlined.

The Czech Republic has already started checking and disinfecting trucks from Slovakia and Austria at the border. The Minister said that these checks would be stepped up and extended to other border crossings.

Fact

Hungarian Chief Veterinary Officer Szabolcs Pásztor announced the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Hungary in early March at a cattle farm in Kisbajcs (northwestern Hungary), near the Slovak border. To prevent the spread of the disease, all the animals on the farm had to be slaughtered.

However, on March 21, it emerged that the virus had also been identified in Slovakia, close to the Hungarian border, prompting the Slovak Ministry of the Interior to declare a state of emergency in the Dunajská Streda (Dunaszerdahely) District. At the same time, the Hungarian Chief Veterinary Officer also introduced official measures following the identification of the disease in Slovakia. Police are carrying out increased checks to prevent the spread, and, in the meantime, Hungary is providing vehicles to control the outbreak in Slovakia.

Since then, another livestock farm has been affected in Hungary, resulting in further preventative measures. A few days ago, the government announced to provide assistance to Hungarian farmers, both to ease the burden of production losses and to safeguard the jobs of livestock farm workers.

New Restrictions to Curb the Spread of Foot-and-Mouth Disease