BRUSSELS, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Three new cases of African swine fever were detected Friday in the province of Luxembourg in Belgium by the Surveillance Network of Wildlife in Wallonia, raising the number of infected animals up to nine, local Belgian media reported.
The corpses of wild boars were found in proximity to the corpses identified in a previous case in a listed area in the south of the province of Luxembourg, says the cabinet of the Walloon Minister of Agriculture Rene Collin.
After examining the virus in detail, experts confirmed that the virus stems from Central Europe, Belgian newspaper Le Soir reported.
However, there are still question marks over the source of the virus, and questions have been raised over the legality of the importation of the contaminated boars into Belgium.
To tackle this problem, a more detailed study of their DNA is currently in progress.
The good news is that no case of the disease has yet been detected among farmed pigs.
Two days earlier, after a meeting between all 14 mayors whose municipalities have been affected by swine fever, the Walloon region announced that it would hand out one million euros to "finance the identification and protection measures" required for a more thorough investigation, according to Belgian TV RTBF.
In order to limit the spread of African swine fever in Belgium, an area of 63,000 hectares has been defined in the province of Luxembourg.
