Avian flu: 3 more cases were detected and the Government announced a package of measures to stop the spread of the disease

The Government announced a package of measures against the advance of bird flu in the country for almost $1,000 million to strengthen the detection system and for producers affected by the disease.

The communication was led by the Minister of Economy,

, who pointed out the decision to put the entire health system on "maximum alert".

He was together with the Secretary of Agriculture,

and the president and vice president of Senasa,

and

, respectively.

"

. A job is being carried out by Senasa and the National State, which requires a strong involvement of provincial authorities, as well as the Gendarmerie, Customs and the Ministry of Health", said the Minister of Economy.

The prevention program that Massa announced consists of

(laboratory equipment, supplies and computer equipment) to have a presence and territorial control in the country in order to

that allows supplying both the internal and external markets.

In addition, there will be

for the replacement of birds to those affected producers.

"We want to bring peace of mind so that those who have symptoms are not afraid to communicate and disseminate," said Bahillo.

The new measures announced are added to those already implemented in the framework of the

declared by Senasa, through resolution 147/23 published last Thursday in the Official Gazette.

Bahillo announced that for this Wednesday at 4:00 p.m.

he summoned the production and health authorities of the provinces.

He will also meet with business chambers.

“I want to leave a message to the producers and to our very important productive chain.

We have to face one of the worst droughts in the last 100 years, with also low soil moisture already accumulated in the last three years.

We also have to face a particularity, such as the 7 de oro, product of the drought and that affects many animals, we have to face a drop in weight in slaughter animals, we have to face the possibility of shielding ourselves against the case of cows crazy that began to appear in Brazil, in addition to facing the avian flu.

and that we have enormous opportunities to grow supplying the domestic market”, said Massa.

In this sense, the official remarked that "the work between the Government, the provincial governments and the producers is key

to guarantee that we have the best operation and can face these phenomena with the greatest strength and fluidity of information".

The authorities reported that today the Senasa Laboratory confirmed 3 new cases of avian influenza in backyard birds in the province of Córdoba, in the towns of Villa del Rosario, Deheza and Baldisera.

So far,

in wild and backyard birds dead or with symptoms have been received, among which

But

(in meat and egg production), unlike what happened in Bolivia and Peru.

Meanwhile, cases of wild or backyard birds were known in Uruguay and Chile;

and suspected cases, without confirming positive, in Paraguay and Brazil.

There are more than 1,000 poultry farms that produce eggs in 18 provinces. In 2022, 15,291 million eggs were produced in Argentina, 8.46% more than in 2021, with a layer park of 51 million birds.

Of the total produced, 97% went to internal consumption, and the remaining 3% went to the external market.

Exports grew by 17% in 2022, reaching more than 50 international markets with the product, in its different variants.

In the case of poultry meat, 2.5 million tons are produced annually and 10% is exported, mainly to China (41%).

In 2022, the sector shipped 254,000 tons of this product, 7% more than in 2021, and foreign currency was generated for US$ 470 million, an increase of 24%.