State Agriculture Minister AtulBora on Saturday said that the mass death among pigs is due to African swinefever. The virus causes a hemorrhagic fever with high mortality rates indomestic pigs; some isolates can cause death of animals as quickly as a weekafter infection.

The samples were sent to a top-level OIE testing laboratory in Bhopal for confirmation. The Government also contemplating mass culling of pigs since there is neither vaccines nor medicines for the disease. Government to take final decision on culling after meeting owners of piggeries, Bora said.

Earlier, the state government haddecided to ban the sale of pork meat. This decision has been taken against thebackdrop of over a thousand "unnatural deaths" of pigs being reported acrossthe state.

More than 2000 pigs have diedacross five districts of eastern Assam of classical swine fever at a time whenpig farmers have been hit by the COVID-19 lockdown.

Animal Husbandry and VeterinaryMinister Atul Bora said five-member teams of veterinary doctors have been askedto study the causes of the disease that killed 1,964 pigs in less than a weekand suggest remedies.