African swine fever is spreading rapidly in China, again
The country has kept covid-19 in check, but its pigs are dying in droves
LESS THAN two years ago Chinese officials warned that the spread of a deadly and highly transmissible virus was threatening the country’s economic stability and its people’s prosperity. Curbing the outbreak was a “major political task” said Hu Chunhua, a deputy prime minister and member of the Communist Party’s ruling Politburo. He said his instructions on how to tame the disease were to be treated as a “military-style order”.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Fearing the wurst”
From the August 28th 2021 edition
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