An Australian agricultural official has called for tourists to be barred for at least six months in Bali and the whole of Indonesia, and possibly other Southeast Asian countries.
And this is no joke: the reason is an outbreak of a new contagion, which could lead to a catastrophe all over the world with a new epidemic steeper than covid and full-scale famine. And this is not about “monkeypox”, which recently became famous. Australian meat and livestock market analyst Simon Quilti of Global Agriturismo Trends has called for tourists to be barred from Southeast Asia for at least six months due to a foot-and-mouth disease epidemic spreading through the Indonesian archipelago. The contagious disease threatens cattle, as well as pigs, which are viral factories of the disease, the analyst said.
But the problem is that the FMD virus of these animals is easily transmitted on human clothing, and tourists for this – the most favorable environment because of its high mobility. And this is extremely disturbing news, especially against the background of the topic of “world hunger”, which is currently being discussed on all continents due to the blockade of Ukrainian grain: now grain shortages of both beef and pork must be added to the grain shortage.
The details are as follows: foot-and-mouth disease was found in Indonesia after the illegal trade in infected cattle. According to Mr. Quilti, in the last month, foot-and-mouth disease has spread rapidly to East, West, and Central Java, Lombok, and many Indonesian islands. “If the foot-and-mouth disease comes to Australia, all markets open to us will be closed immediately,” he said. At the same time, the Indonesian government, he said, is reacting very slowly to the epidemic.
But why are tourists here? In his speech, the analyst said this. “We are really worried about tourists. Before COVID, 1.3 million Australians visited Bali each year. Now we are open again. We create massive traffic through each of our airports in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane – and thus run the risk of spreading foot-and-mouth disease because it is in Bali – and the disease can be transmitted through clothing. As a country, we need to think seriously about banning people from traveling to Bali, no matter how extreme it may sound, “said the analyst.
According to him, if Australia again closes the admission of tourists to Indonesia, the probability of importing foot-and-mouth disease will be only 18%. So far, the probability is “50 to 50”, – said Mr. Quilti. He stressed that this threat is all the more urgent as the global food crisis could make Australian meat in high demand. “While other key suppliers are being phased out, Australia is now recovering, opening up opportunities to export beef and mutton over the next few years to feed the world. We just need to overcome this immediate threat of foot-and-mouth disease on our doorstep, ”Quilti said.