The Bareilly district administration has banned pig markets and sale of pork after 20 pigs died of African Swine Fever (ASF) at a farm in Faridpur here.

Following a report by the chief veterinary officer, District Magistrate Shivakant Dwivedi passed the order on Tuesday.

In his order, Dwivedi said that ASF is highly contagious and fatal in pigs. He added that the ban has been enforced to "prevent its spread."

The first case of ASF was reported in Bareilly on July 20.

K P Singh, Joint Director of IVRI, Bareilly, said, "ASF has been reported in Bareilly after northeastern states Mizoram, Tripura and Assam saw such cases."

A few days ago, pigs in the farm owned by one Anil Kumar, resident of Bhadsar Dandiya village of Nawabganj tehsil here, had high fever. Despite treatment, they stopped eating and later died.

Using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from their samples, the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) confirmed the outbreak.

The chief veterinary officer was asked to issue a detailed report and an advisory on behalf of the IVRI.

Later, a team was sent to the village by the administration to check for infection in other pigs.

"Accordingly, the one-kilometre area where ASF was confirmed, has been declared an infected zone", Singh said. He added that humans are not at a risk of getting infected.

"IVRI is also in the process of bringing out a vaccine for this disease", he said.

ASF was first reported in Africa in 1920.