ASF Germany: Brandenburg asks for restriction zones to be lifted

State Secretary for Consumer Protection and crisis leader in the German state of Brandenburg Antje Töpfer wants to submit an application to the European Commission iin Brussels to remove part of the African Swine Fever (ASF) containment zone in the state. It concerns former core areas 1 and 3. They were located in the districts of Dahme-Spree and Oder-Spree, south of the city of Frankfurt Oder.

An application to lift the so-called Sperrzone II is possible if no infected boar have been found in an area for 6 months, and if the wild boar population is less than 5% of its original size. The size of the population is extensively monitored with drones and helicopters.

Töpfer says that the state of Brandenburg is making progress in combatting ASF. The area in which the virus circulates has become smaller last year. Of the 11 core areas in Brandenburg, only 4 remain. Töpfer can decide herself to close a core area, because that is a measure that the state itself introduced. Brussels establishes Sperrzones.

The Spree-Neiße district is still an ASF hotspot in Brandenburg. The district borders Poland and the state of Saxony. Töpfer: “Core area 6 will remain intact. There is still substantial work to be done with ASF there.”

The state of Brandenburg has been struggling with ASF since September 2020. At the beginning of June it was 1,000 days since the first ASF infection came to light. Until March this year, the government in Brandenburg invested € 104 million in the fight against the virus. The main measures are:

• building fences;
• shooting and catching wild boar;
• find cadavers;
• informing people, such as hunters and farmers, to prevent them from unintentionally transferring the virus.