Ahead Of Eid Al-Adha, The FMD Outbreak In Central Lombok Spreads From Cows To Buffaloes And Goats

Cattle in Central Lombok, NTB, were exposed to FMD on Friday, June 17. (Antara-Akhyar)

NTB - The Central Lombok government revealed that an epidemic of mouth and nail disease (FMD) in cows began to attack buffalo and goats ahead of Eid al-Adha 1443 Hijriah.

"The cattle infected with PMK are currently cattle, buffalo and goats," said Head of the Central Lombok Agriculture and Livestock Service, Lalu Taufikurahman, in Praya, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) province, quoted from Antara, Friday, June 17.

He explained that based on temporary data from the PMK Handling Task Force Team that had been formed, the total cases of the FMD outbreak in Central Lombok reached 10,995 heads, but about 50 percent or 5,442 cattle have recovered.

Meanwhile, the total number of cases of PMK in buffaloes was 112 and 61 recovered and for goats affected by the FMD outbreak as many as 60 heads and only 16 recovered.

"So the total number of cattle that have recovered, including cows, buffaloes and goats, is 5519 of the total 11,167 cases. While the rest are still sick, 5658," he said.

He said the spread of the PMK outbreak until now continues to soar or is almost in 12 sub-districts spread over 102 villages out of 139 villages in Central Lombok. To anticipate the spread of the epidemic, the local government is still closing all animal markets until June 20, according to the letter that has been issued.

"The animal market is still closed for the time being," he said.

Although the FMD outbreak continues to increase, the availability of sacrificial animals in Central Lombok can certainly be met, both for cows and goats.

"We have encouraged entrepreneurs of sacrificial animals to open kiosks selling sacrificial animals by implementing the PMK health protocol. So that the livestock that will be used as sacrifices remain healthy," said Lalu Taufikurahman.