Jakarta (ANTARA) - The government is aiming to vaccinate as many as 800 thousand heads of livestock against the foot-and-mouth (FMD) disease before Eid al-Adha, the Agriculture Ministry has said.

"We will ensure that the currently available 800 thousand doses of the vaccine are confirmed to be administered to livestock no later than two weeks before Eid al-Adha," Director General of Livestock and Animal Health at the Agriculture Ministry Nasrullah said during a coordination meeting of the FMD Task Force, which was accessed from here on Friday.

So far, the Agriculture Ministry has distributed 655,100 doses of the FMD vaccine to 19 provinces affected by the outbreak, he informed. His administration is aiming to complete the allocation of 800 thousand vaccine doses by July 7, 2022.

He said that the ministry will try to procure 3 million additional FMD vaccine doses in June and July. In the first stage, only 800 thousand doses of the vaccine have arrived in Indonesia. Another 2.2 million doses are expected to arrive in Indonesia in July.

Head of the National Disaster Management Agency and head of the FMD Task Force, Lieutenant General Suharyanto, informed that President Joko Widodo has directed that at least 3 million vaccines be administered to livestock before Eid al-Adha.

As many as 215 cities and districts in 19 provinces of Indonesia are currently affected by the outbreak.

Nasrullah said that in accordance with President Widodo's directives, the Agriculture Ministry will track and inform of the status of the outbreak in each sub-district and impose lockdowns or restrictions on livestock movement or distribution.

So far, 1,865 sub-districts and 56,950 villages have been affected by the disease.

East Java, West Nusa Tenggara, Aceh, West Java, and Central Java have recorded the highest rates of infection.

As many as 232,549 livestock have been infected with FMD so far, with 152,618 not yet recovered and 1,333 dying of the disease. The infected livestock include at least 227,070 cows.

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Translator: Aditya Ramadhan, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Sri Haryati
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