File photo of a digger placing cows and sheep on a pile during the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak in Britain

Quang Ngai Province in the central region could be facing a serious foot-and-mouth outbreak following the death of 52 cows in the last three weeks, a province agriculture officer said Monday.

Huong said 52 cows of 23 families of Son Tinh District had died from the disease in the past 20 days, adding that the province animal health authority is localizing the outbreaks.

Also on Monday, the district government fined five families, each VND2 million (US$112), for trading cows without certificates of origin, leading to the recurrence of the disease.

This year as of late June, nearly 2,700 cattle and 110 pigs had contracted foot-and-mouth disease nationwide including Quang Ngai.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development stipulated that a city or province will be pronounced safe from an animal disease if no new cases are reported after 21 days.

The ministry’s Animal Health Department in June said livestock epidemics were under control but warned that the diseases would recur and localities should have their cattle vaccinated, while the transport and slaughter of livestock should be closely supervised.

Source: Thanh Nien