Only Bacolod City and Escalante City in Negros Occidental remain in the red category or infected zone in the African Swine Fever Zoning report of the Bureau of Animal Industry.
Bago City is no longer in the red category, it is classified as pink or a buffer zone, Dr. Placeda Lemana, provincial veterinarian, said on Thursday, Dec. 5.
She said the categorization of Bago City in the red zone was possibly caused by a contaminated monitoring sample.
“If there was indeed a positive pig and it did not spread to others,” she said.
Bago immediately complied with the submission of required samples within 14 days and they showed that the area concerned is ASF free, Lemana said.
So Bago has been categorized in the Pink Zone or buffer zone, she added.
Escalante remains in the red zone because it was late in processing its documents and its samples expired, Lemana said.
Sipalay is light green which is considered a Protected Zone.
In Negros Oriental, seven LGUs are categorized in the red zone. These include Dumaguete, Dauin, Bindoy, Bayawan, Basay, Bacong and Amlan.
Meanwhile, this holiday season, the price and supply of pork in the province remains stable, Lemana said.*