Finland expands African swine fever restricted zone

Finland will enlarge a restricted zone for African swine fever after 11 more infected dead wild boars were found, the Finnish Food Authority said Wednesday.

The new cases bring the total since July 30 to 14. The boars were found in Virolahti in southeastern Finland, near the Russian border.

The restricted area limits activities including hunting and forestry. The food authority said some of the newly found cases were outside the original core area and asked berry pickers, mushroom pickers and others to avoid the area even before exact boundaries and a map are published.

African swine fever is harmless to humans, but it is a viral haemorrhagic disease with a mortality rate close to 100 percent in pigs and wild boar.

Sirpa Kiviruusu, head of the food authority's animal health and medication unit, said it was “very likely” the boars had come from Russia, but said that was not confirmed. She said the strain was the same as one found in the Baltic countries and in parts of Central Europe.

Kiviruusu said Finland currently had no information about the situation on the Russian side of the border because communication with Russian authorities was cut off after Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

About 400 volunteer hunters have been trained to help search for dead and infected wild boars, and samples have been collected for testing.