The government is expected to receive a $30 million loan to combat the Lumpy Skin epidemic

The World Bank is expected to secure a $30 million loan for Pakistan a few months ago to launch a comprehensive program to control the rat skin disease.

An official of the Ministry of Food Security and Research said that the World Bank has agreed to the government's request to use undistributed funds for a loan of 200 million dollars approved for locust control project.

Locust has been brought under control and there is no threat in the near future, so the government has asked the World Bank to use these funds for a program to control skin diseases.

Discussions with the World Bank in this regard are in the initial stages and a formal project document will be shared with the World Bank soon. In which the situation arising from the spread of skin lump disease in cattle has been reviewed.

The Ministry of National Food Security and Research has sent a summary to the Economic Coordination Committee of the Federal Cabinet to declare a state of emergency to combat the outbreak of skin lump disease in cattle.

The Ministry of Food Safety and Research has also requested Ministry of Finance to sanction 70 million rupees on an emergency basis for the purchase of vaccines.

Statistics show that Sindh has recorded the highest number of nodular skin cases in Pakistan, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Balochistan. However, the recovery rate of infected animals is also quite encouraging.

There are a total of 4 crore 15 lakh 50 thousand 921 cattle in Pakistan, out of which 1 lakh 52 thousand 270 cases were reported, 1 lakh 18 thousand 765 animals recovered from this disease while 4 thousand 81 cattle died from this disease.

According to the latest data, 6 crore 86 lakh 659 cattle have been vaccinated so far. The mortality rate is 0.0098 percent and the morbidity rate is 0.366 percent.

53,668 cases were reported in Sindh, 46,343 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 23,683 in Punjab, 22,225 in Balochistan and 6,351 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Data on the prevalence of nodular skin in Gilgit-Baltistan is not available.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has warned of an outbreak of skin lump disease in cattle in Pakistan, which originated in Africa and has affected animals in West Asia and Southwest Asia, Europe. This disease affects only cows and buffaloes.

The Lumpy Skin outbreak has no public health implications as the virus, which causes disease in cattle, does not infect humans, the Ministry of Food Safety and Research said in a statement.

Boiled milk and well-cooked meat from infected cattle are also safe for human consumption.

The Ministry of Food Safety and Research said that the Commissioner of Zootechnics has already sent letters to the provinces to give instructions in this regard, including information to raise awareness among farmers and livestock professionals. The import of vaccine has been stopped for control purposes.