BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s agriculture ministry on Sunday said a new outbreak of African swine fever had been confirmed in Gansu province in the northwest of the country.

The outbreak occurred on a farm with 109 live pigs in Qingyang city, infecting 44 of the animals and killing nine, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said in a statement.

China, home to the world’s largest hog herd, has reported more than 90 cases of the highly contagious disease since it was first detected in the northeast of the country in August last year but this is the first in Gansu listed on the ministry’s website.