BERLIN, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- To protect against African swine fever, the first protective fences were erected in northeastern Germany near the Polish border on Friday, said officials from the northeastern state Brandenburg.
The exact position of the electric fences was decided by individual local districts in Brandenburg, according to the Brandenburg ministry of consumer protection.
African swine fever is a "very serious" viral infection which affects pigs, domestic and wild boars, and is fatal for them but poses no danger to humans, according to the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
African swine fever has been occurring in various EU countries since 2014.
According to the Brandenburg ministry of consumer protection, a recent case of African swine fever detected in several wild boars near the German-Polish border had brought the epidemic close to Germany.
Protective fences against African swine fever have also been purchased by other German states, but have not yet been erected.
Denmark had completed its permanent protective fence along its border with Germany after ten months of construction. The 1.5-meter-high fence is almost 70 kilometers long and runs from the Baltic Sea to the North Sea.
