Samples cannot be taken from pigs with African swine fever without the permission of provincial animal husbandry and veterinary authorities, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on Friday.

The extraction of the virus causing the disease and animal infection experiments without its consent are also forbidden, the ministry said in a statement.

Local animal husbandry and veterinary authorities are responsible for the detection, prevention and control of the disease, it said. If they are not equipped with relevant experts or equipment, they can entrust the experiments to universities or third-party organizations after approval by provincial animal husbandry and veterinary authorities.

All laboratories conducting experiments on the disease must strictly comply with safety instructions and destroy all samples after the experiments, the ministry said.

They should report immediately to provincial animal disease prevention and control authorities if the disease is detected, and the provincial authorities should report the case to the China Animal Disease Control Center within an hour, it said.

China has reported more than 40 outbreaks of the highly contagious disease since early August, with farms across 12 provinces and municipalities reporting infections.