One million vaccine doses arrived from Argentina on Saturday and both KZN and the Free State will receive 200,000 doses each to contain the spread.
Director-General Mooketsa Ramasodi said outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease continue to be reported for a number of reasons, including the illegal movement of infected animals, false health declarations and auctions.
The Western Cape is the latest province to report an outbreak, but cases are also increasing in the Eastern Cape.
“There are a lot of dairy animals in those areas, so we need to protect the dairy farms from getting the disease.”
The department expects another shipment of 1.5 million vaccines to arrive in the country this week.
“We have not really shifted the focus from KwaZulu-Natal, but we are involving the Free State in our efforts to stop the disease in these two provinces.”
Ramasodi said the provinces have all started collecting their allocation for the first batch of imported vaccines, with Limpopo and Mpumalanga receiving 100,000 doses each, as buffalo herds also threaten the continued spread of the disease.
Lindsay Dentlinger
www.ewn.co.za