Due to the sanitary situation of the COVID-19, the fifteenth meeting of the standing group of experts on African Swine Fever (SGE ASF15), initially planned in Slovakia, took place as a teleconference on May of 6 2020. 31 countries of Europe participated, as well as representatives of China and Japan.
The participating member countries of the SGE-ASF for Europe briefly presented their national epidemiological situation regarding ASF, focussing on the changes since the last meeting in Sofia in September 2019. They were also invited to provide the SGE and the Secretariat an idea of the impact the COVID 19 situation had on their ASF surveillance.
The Secretariat took the opportunity to present to the participants an overview of the ASF around the world. The OIE, the European Commission and FAO respectively completed the picture with the global, the European and the Balkans situations of ASF. A representative of the OIE in Asia gave a quick overview of the work done within the GF-TADs SGE on ASF recently settled, with a specific development on the epidemiology in Asia. With the crisis management experience in Belgium, the participants got a good picture of ASF situation.
The report of the SGE expert mission in Serbia in December 2019 was circulated among the European countries. Without any objection received before the meeting, the report was approved and proposed to be shared on the GF-TADs page of the OIE website for Europe. The SGE ASF mission planned in Slovakia in April 2020 was postponed, due to the COVID-19 situation. A mission of the SGE experts will be organized as soon as the sanitary situation enables in Greece.
The SGE ASF15 discussed and approved a set of recommendations. The SGE ASF 16 should take place in Hungary in November 2020, as long as the regional sanitary situation enables it. Otherwise, the teleconference format will be kept.
