HONG KONG: Hong Kong will cull 6,000 pigs after African swine fever was detected in an animal at a slaughterhouse close to the border with China, the first case of the disease in the densely populated financial hub.

'In order to minimize the risk of ASF virus spreading from the slaughterhouse, all pigs in Sheung Shui Slaughterhouse will be culled so that thorough cleansing and also disinfection could be conducted,' Sophia Chan, Secretary of the city's Food and Health Department, said late Friday.