Beijing (CNN) Chinese authorities have announced strict new measures in an attempt to halt the country's fast-growing African swine fever crisis, which has spread to 18 provinces and led to the culling of more than 200,000 pigs.

Days after acknowledging the situation was "serious," the Chinese Agricultural Ministry on Friday reported the first outbreak of the disease in the southwestern province of Sichuan in a farm of 40 pigs.

The news is especially concerning for officials as Sichuan is the top swine-producing region in China -- a country that produces half of the world's pigs with a current population of around 500 million swine.

Although the disease poses no direct danger to human health, its arrival and spread in China have increasingly threatened the pork industry, with major potential impact on supplies and prices in coming months.

In a rare document jointly issued Wednesday by the Ministries of Agriculture, Transportation and Public Security, the government blamed unhygienic vehicles transporting pigs and profit-driven "lawless elements" moving animals out of high-risk areas for the disease's rapid spread since the first case emerged in August.

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