Piglets are held in pens at a modern pig farm in Beijing's Fangshan district, April 30, 2018. (PHOTO / IC)

HONG KONG – Hong Kong authorities will cull over 400 pigs after the African Swine Fever virus was found in another licensed pig farm in Yuen Long, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said Tuesday.

The AFCD said eight pigs tested positive for the ASF at the farm in San Tin and all the pigs there will have to be culled prevent the spread of the virus.

AFCD staff members will also inspect eight pig farms within three kilometers of the farm and collect pig samples for ASF testing

"Positive cases should be seriously and promptly handled as the effect of ASF is very lethal to pigs. If the spread is not contained, a large number of pigs will die and hence seriously impacting pig farmers and the pig rearing industry,” an AFCD spokesman said.

AFCD staff members will also inspect eight pig farms within three kilometers of the index farm and collect pig samples for ASF testing.

“For the sake of prudence, the AFCD has been suspending movements of pigs on those eight pig farms until further notice. No reports of abnormalities from pig farms outside the three-kilometer zone have been received so far,” the spokesman said.

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He stressed that ASF is not a zoonotic disease and will not infect humans and the present case does not affect the operation of local slaughterhouses nor the city’s overall supply of live pigs.

The AFCD said on Saturday said it will cull 900 pigs in a licensed pig farm in San Tin after 10 pigs tested positive on Friday.

Hong Kong authorities had culled a total of around 5,700 pigs last month to stop three separate outbreaks in licensed pig farms in Yuen Long. In November, over 5,600 pigs were culled in a single licensed pig farm, also in Yuen Long, after samples there tested for the virus.