According to a statement issued on 6 December, the two entities signed a collaborative protocol, "whose focus is to seek to improve the efficiency of prevention measures against the threat of African swine fever."

This collaboration will take place in 2020 and “is based on an action plan that outlines four key areas of intervention,” reads the note, which highlights that these areas are embodied in two lines of action.

"The first provides for the reinforcement of bio-security in pig farms, namely through the creation of a bio-security assessment project and the development of validation protocols for cleaning and disinfection in all swine movement," the two entities said in the statement.

The second line of action provides for “intensification of preventive measures” against this disease and “is operationalised through the development of a risk assessment model and the definition of measures to minimize these risks, definition and monitoring of prevention plan indicators, and knowledge transfer”, including meetings and training, according to the same information.

The main audience for these actions will be “pig farm technicians, producers and organizations of big game hunters” who will have the opportunity to strengthen their knowledge about epidemiology, prevention, control and strengthening passive surveillance of the disease.

Under this protocol, FML will also collaborate with FPAS in the implementation of projects and with technical advice, both of which intend to evaluate the impact of animal health law implementation and promote “responsible use of antimicrobials”.

Cited in the statement, FPAS Vice-President David Neves stressed that the organization "has been carrying out various communication actions with producers about the prevention measures" of African swine fever.

“The issue is of concern to us and we think we have to continue to play our part. This partnership with the academy is a way for us to seek knowledge where he is and to have a scientific and rigorous basis to support our actions,” said the same official, quoted in the statement.

The last outbreak of African swine fever in Portugal was on November 15, 1999.

The virus exists in domestic and feral pigs in the European Union (EU), Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Slovakia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Italy on the island of Sardinia.

Outside the EU, other countries were affected such as Ukraine, Moldova and the Russian Federation (European part) and the Republic of Serbia, “with focuses on both domestic and wild pigs,” according to the note.