China has confirmed a new outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in northwest China’s Ningxia Hui autonomous region. On a farm in Yongning County, 26 pigs were confirmed infected with the viral disease and 13 had died, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on Sunday.

A team has been dispatched to the area to give guidance, and local authorities have initiated an emergency response to isolate and cull the affected pigs and disinfect the farm.

So far, China has had 103 ASF outbreaks detected in 24 provinces and more than 916,000 pigs have been culled. Studies showed that 62% of the first 21 ASF events in China were related to swill feeding. Directives on banning swill feeding to pigs and record keeping of livestock transportation vehicles has been updated.