The Council of Agriculture (COA) has confirmed that the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease on the outlying island of Kinmen originated in China.
Kinmen is an offshore island administered by Taiwan. It is located less than two kilometers from the coastal city of Xiamen in Fujian Province, China. The island is known for its beef products. An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease was recently found on one of the island’s cattle farms. The COA said all the animals on that ranch will be euthanized. The COA has also barred travelers from bringing 110 processed beef products from the island to Taiwan proper.
On Monday, Agriculture Minister Chen Bao-ji said that the virus strain showed a 99% similarity with that responsible for a 2009 outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in China. Chen said that the COA is still tracing the route of the virus’ transmission. However, Chen said that sequence analysis confirms that the virus arrived from Mainland China.