Ensuring Public Health and avoiding outbreaks of infection in the affected areas of Thessaly is the first and urgent priority of the Government and the Ministry of Rural Development and Food.

The Directorate of Veterinary Medicine of the Ministry, from the first day of the development of the disease, in a letter to the competent Services of the Region of Thessaly, gave the relevant instructions for the collection and management of the dead animals.

Yesterday, Saturday, September 9, a meeting was held by the competent Deputy Minister Stavros Keletsis, with the participation of the Deputy Minister of Health Irini Agapidakis, the General Secretary Giorgos Stratakos, the president of ELGA Andreas Lykourentzos, the Deputy Regional Governor for Agricultural Affairs of the Region of Thessaly Apostolos Billis, officials and a representative of the company responsible for the collection of animals, in order to coordinate and effectively organize the relevant business.

At the meeting it was decided that the responsibility of coordinating the competent regional veterinary services and the ELGA will be given to the competent Deputy Governor of Thessaly, Apostolos Billis.

In order to speed up the procedures, it was decided not to record the dead animals by ELGA with an on-site inspection, but to rely on the official data of the Veterinary Service, which will later be cross-checked with ELGA’s data and the statements of the breeders.

The collection of dead animals, which is the responsibility of the Region, is done by the contractor company that has undertaken the specific project, within the framework of the National Program for the collection and management of dead animals. Their collection and transport is done by applying specific health rules, which are also applied in this particular case.

Since yesterday, the dead animals have been transported in special refrigerated trucks to certified burning sites, which are furnaces, initially in the regions of Imathia and Arcadia, with the prospect of using other sites in the rest of Greece, as soon as accessibility conditions allow. At the suggestion of the veterinary services, in cases where the terms and conditions are met, the landfill method will also be used.

The competent services of the Region of Thessaly, from the first moment and until the complete completion of the process of collecting the dead animals, have the absolute support of the competent services of HYPAAT and ELGA, in order to ensure public health.