In Luxembourg, a nearly ten-kilometre-long fence was erected between Linger and Grass, which was meant to reinforce the already existing fence in the Belgian Walloon Region.
Today, there are still cases of African swine fever in Europe. Recent examples include those reported near the German-Polish border.
Minister of Agriculture Romain Schneider explains that Luxembourg and France have never had a domestic case because of the quick response two years ago. Belgium has also not recorded another case since September 2019 and was declared “swine-fever-free” at the end of 2020.
Nevertheless, the Belgian authorities have decided to leave the fence up until the end of March 2022. As for Luxembourg, Schneider states that the government has decided to leave the fence up until 15 October 2021, at which point an assessment of the situation will be made.
On the other hand, it is being considered to already open up all gates across the country as well as the fence itself in places where game passes.
The fence was one of several measures taken to prevent the spread of African swine fever, with the others including biosafety measures in companies as well as the introduction of a “white zone” (zone blanche).
Luxembourg also continues to carry out sporadic checks. So far, a total of 550 wild boars have been checked, all of them negative. Nevertheless, Schneider still advises caution, as swine fever “has not yet left Europe and can resurface at any point”. With this in mind, the Minister thinks that the Grand Duchy is choosing the most prudent path in leaving the fence up, while even planning to extend it further north.
It took until 1 April 2021 for the public to be able to access the affected forest areas in Belgium again.
