FMD Infections Decline 96 Percent from Peak in June: Ministry

TheIndonesia.id - The Ministry of Agriculture has claimed that the current foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) infections in Indonesia have remarkably plummeted 96.96 percent from its recorded peak earlier in June.

According to the Ministry, 13,546 daily infections were reported at the end of June; meanwhile, as of August 24, there were only 412 infections.

“The number of livestock infected by FMD continues to drop since peak in June 26, with 13,546 cases. And on August 24, there were 412 cases which means it declines 96.96 percent from the peak,” coordinator for animal diseases prevention and control at the Ministry Arif Wicaksono said on Sunday, August 28, as reported by Antara.

Despite the positive finding, Wicaksono noted that FMD virus is more malignant compared to virus that causes COVID-19 infection in terms of transmissibility and economic impacts it causes.

For example, when one livestock is infected with FMD, it is almost certain that other 15 livestock within the same area are also infected.

“In FMD, it’s not the mortality rate that is worrying, but, rather, the transmission rate and economic losses,” Wicaksono explained.

As the Indonesian government continues to vaccinate livestock in regions across Indonesia, last week, the first shipment of one million FMD vaccine doses from Australia arrived.

“We’ve been able to match the doses to the FMD strain present in Indonesia. These doses will be highly effective in providing protection to Indonesian livestock,” Australian Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry Murray Watt said in a statement on August 26.

It was part of the pledge made by the Australian government to support national effort to contain FMD outbreak in Indonesia.

“We’ve prepared one million vaccines for FMD, and we will send them to Indonesia in August 2022,” Watt said back in July.

Meanwhile, Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong confirmed that in the coming months “Australia will supply a further AU$4.4 million in FMD vaccines as part of a AU$10 million biosecurity package recently announced for Indonesia”.