INDONESIA ACCELERATES BATTLE AGAINST FMD OUTBREAK IN 19 PROVINCES by Fardah

 

Jakarta, 25/6/2022 (ANTARA) - Indonesia is battling the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak, mostly affecting cows in regions since May 2022, while concurrently, it is on alert for likely surge in COVID-19 cases triggered by emergence of new Omicron sub-variants.

FMD cases have been detected in 19 provinces, especially in East Java, West Nusa Tenggara, Aceh, West Java, and Central Java. Three provinces, with the highest number of districts and cities with FMD cases, are East Java, Central Java, and West Java.

As of June 23, at least 232,549 animals had contracted FMD. At least 152,618 of them have not yet recovered, while 1,333 have died. The most infected cattle are cows, with their number reaching 227,070 heads.

FMD is a highly contagious viral disease that affects cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. FMD can spread through close contact between animals and be carried on animal products or by the wind. Quarantine and vaccination are among strategies to help control the FMD virus spread.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said that the government will provide Rp10 million as compensation to cattle breeders for every cow slaughtered due to the disease.

The government has approved the procurement of 29 million additional doses of the FMD vaccine for livestock using the budget of the Committee for COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery (KPC-PEN), he added.

The government is targeting to vaccinate at least 800 thousand heads of livestock before the Muslim holy day of Eid al-Adha, which will be observed on July 9, 2022.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has assigned the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), which has, so far, been handling the COVID-19 pandemic, to also lead the national task force of the FMD outbreak response.

BNPB Head Suharyanto said his side is accelerating the FMD handling efforts and working along with the elements of the task force from the Coordinating Ministry for the Economic Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Home Affairs, National Police (Polri), and Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI).

"We will work as swiftly as possible because we already have a similar model (in place) while handling the COVID-19 pandemic. We will apply it to handle FMD," Suharyanto stated.

The agency has drafted a map of the FMD red zones and prepared strategies to contain the outbreak by imposing a lockdown in the red zone areas in provinces where more than 50 percent of sub-districts have reported FMD infections, among other measures.

"There should be no movement of animals from one point to another," Lieutenant General Suharyanto stated at a coordination meeting on the handling of the FMD outbreak on June 24, 2022.



The government restricts livestock movement in 1,765 sub-districts, or 38 percent of the countrys total 4,614 sub-districts, considered as red zones of the FMD outbreak.

The head of state has also called for ensuring adequate availability of medicines and disinfectant to contain the virus spread.

Jokowis another instruction is to establish FMD posts to monitor livestock mobility by activating micro-level public activity restrictions (PPKM) posts at the village and sub-district levels, which were earlier used to support the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The BNPB head has urged all provinces, districts, and cities free from FMD infections to secure the entry gates to their regions in order to prevent the spread of the disease.

In addition, dissemination of information to the public, including on animal health education and providing clear explanation of the policy to people, also should be conducted, particularly ahead of Eid al-Adha, the Islamic festivity for Muslims to sacrifice cows or goats as well as sheep and distribute their meat to the needy.

The president has ordered data collection on the need for vaccine doses and vaccinations.

He has also sought for the formation of a task force in regions to conduct data collection and ensure the availability of veterinarians and veterinary authorities. The task force is expected to be operationalized in each region at the district, city, and provincial levels, especially in the red zone areas.

The data on FMD-infected livestock is to be integrated with the Bersatu Lawan (United Against) COVID-19 application, which is used to collect real-time pandemic data.

Through the integration, it is expected that more detailed, thorough, and valid data on animals infected with FMD will be obtained, due to which it has become the main priority of the government in data incorporation.



Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture stated that around 17 million livestock will receive the vaccine, or about 80 percent of the livestock population in provinces affected by the disease. The livestock will be inoculated thrice: twice in 2022 and once in 2023.

Agriculture Minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo said his ministry immediately distributed 800 thousand doses of FMD vaccine that had arrived on June 17 to regions to accelerate outbreak handling.

"The spread of this epidemic is extremely fast. Hence, maximum efforts need to be made. Hopefully, this would bring a sense of certainty to us all that the FMD outbreak can be resolved optimally," he affirmed.

The ministry, through its Veterinary Pharmacy Center (Pusvetma), is also preparing a locally-produced vaccine, which is expected to be completed by the end of August 2022

The Agriculture Ministry has distributed vitamins, antibiotics, antipyretics, disinfectants, and personal protective equipment (PPE) in several regions to support the efforts.

Despite the FMD outbreak currently occurring in the country, the government is optimistic that the current stock of animals for Qurbani is sufficient for the Eid al-Adha ritual.

"We ensure that the availability of animals for Qurbani, such as cattle, goats, and sheep, is safe. This refers to the number of Qurbani animals needed last year, which reached 1.5 million heads," he said.

As of June 10, 2022, at least 2,205,660 sacrificial animals for Eid al-Adha were available across Indonesia, comprising cows, buffalos, goats, and sheep.

The FMD outbreak is a very serious problem because it could potentially affect the national economy, as restrictions that might be enforced against cattle exported from Indonesia could create a domino effect on other economic sectors.

Australia, Indonesia's neighbor and one of the world's largest cattle exporters, is highly concerned about the FMD outbreak in Indonesia. An incursion of the virus would have severe consequences for Australias animal health and trade.

The Australian government has sent support to Indonesia and offered funding for a vaccine, technical assistance to improve on-farm biosecurity, and additional capacity to ramp up laboratory and diagnostic capabilities.