The Minister of Rural Development and Food, Kostas Tsiaras, spoke on Tuesday morning to ERTNews about the plague of sheep and goats and what we know about it.

“What we did from the very beginning was to clearly implement the European Directive 6 87 of 2020, which provides for the taking of specific measures. There is a specific protocol which is being followed to the letter at the moment by the services of the Ministry of Rural Development, but of course in cooperation with all the Regions involved in this matter, so that we can limit this disease as soon as possible”, he emphasized the Minister initially.

“The issue is to isolate the virus”

He added that the virus has an incubation period of 22 days. “This means that as long as we find one case in at least these areas for at least 22 days – making it 30 – we have to be on high alert. This also means that whenever a case is registered and all those provided by the European directive are followed, we will have to wait for these 30 days in order to close the cycle”, he said.

“So, when we see what the last case is going to be and I repeat right now there are basically checks being done in places where our tracking shows that animals have gone that are possibly infected with the virus, we will be able to close this whole case” , concluded.

Regarding the origin of the virus, he stated that, “at the time of export from the country and import into the other, it is possible that the animals appear healthy, but nevertheless this is a matter that we will see and examine through the formation of a committee which will take place these days”.

He reminded that the issue, at this moment, is not “where the first case came from, but to isolate the virus”.

“There is no question of public health

“We have to make it clear that there is no public health issue”, he emphasized among other things. Slaughter is prohibited as he said because it is a reason for the transmission of the virus. “Because the most common way to transmit the virus is to take animals to slaughterhouses. So there, precisely because all this processing takes place, until we get to the slaughter, it is I would say the ideal way. And that’s the negative in order for him to be transported and not be able to contain and isolate him.”

He added that, “man can carry it, but it doesn’t stick, man doesn’t get sick. But when his shoes, his clothes come into contact with a biological material of the animal, he could potentially be the one to transfer to another herd.”

“At the moment the battle we are fighting is a battle of isolating the virus against time”, emphasized Mr. Tsiaras. So, as the Minister explained, a case in a herd means that all the animals in the herd must be killed, there must also be surveillance zones. “You do realize that this was the reason why we were essentially led to a decision being made by the Ministry of Rural Development and Food that there would be no movement of animals for any of the known reasons, precisely to limit the possibility of the transmission of the virus, therefore the disease,” he said.

According to the Minister, about 9,000 animals have been killed.

“To assure the people of the labor that the government will be on their side”

Regarding the compensations and for possible support with the European Union, Mr. Tsiaras said: “Until now, there was no provision at the European level for compensations for the plague and all that. However, I think that since we are now talking about a significant decline in European livestock and an issue that affects the primary sector in more than one country, it will probably develop into a European discussion and we will see what the development will be.”

“The faster we get out of the plague virus, the better data we will have for the economy of the primary sector,” explained Mr. Tsiaras.

He added, “we have to appreciate the size. We start from this. But what I can say and what I can assure all these people of toil, the farmers who are struggling and who are possibly seeing their livestock destroyed right now, is that the government, as it has done in all corresponding crises, he will be by their side, he will support them, he will help them, he will strengthen them”.

Water scarcity: It is a priority issue in government policies

Regarding the water shortage, he said, among other things, that it is an issue that constitutes priority in government policies.

“The prime minister himself has made a huge effort in order to be highlighted and of course to seek and find solutions in this direction. I think that the model of central management at the regional level, especially in the regions, which seems to be even more acute the problem and the immediate possibility for it to be adopted and work, seems to be the only solution at the moment,” he said.