Customs and Border Protection is on high alert to prevent any spread to the US, which would inflict billions of dollars of damage to the pork industry in the country. Major outbreaks of ASF in Africa are regularly reported to the World Organisation for Animal Health (previously called L'office international des épizooties). In 2018 the virus spread to Asia, affecting more than 10 percent of the total pig population in several countries, leading to severe economic losses in the pig sector. Cuba In 1971, an outbreak of the disease occurred in Cuba, resulting in the slaughter of 500,000 pigs to prevent a nationwide animal epidemic. The outbreak was labeled the "most alarming event" of 1971 by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization. Six years after the event, the newspaper Newsday, citing untraceable sources, claimed that anti-Castro saboteurs, with at least the tacit backing of U.S. Central Intelligence Agency officials, allegedly introduced African swine fever virus into Cuba six weeks before the outbreak in 1971, to destabilize the Cuban economy and encourage domestic opposition to Fidel Castro. The virus was allegedly delivered to the operatives from an army base in the Panama Canal Zone by an unnamed U.S. intelligence source. Western Europe ASFV first occurred in Europe in 1957, when it was introduced in Portugal. From there, it spread to Spain and France. Although concerted efforts to eradicate ASFV were undertaken, such as widespread culling and the construction of modern farming facilities, the disease was only eradicated in the 1990s. In September 2018, an outbreak occurred in wild boars in southern Belgium. Professional observers suspect that importation of wild boars from Eastern European countries by game hunters was the origin of the virus. By 4 October, 32 wild boars had tested positive for the virus. For control of the outbreak, 4,000 domestic pigs were slaughtered preventively in the Gaume region, and the forest was declared off-limits for recreation. In September 2020, the German agriculture minister confirmed on a press conference that the African swine fever virus reached Germany. The virus was discovered on a wild boar carcass, which the test results confirmed all as positive results. The dead boar was located in the district of Spree-Neisse, Brandenburg, just a few kilometres from Polish EU border. The dead animal had been there for quite a while according to the Friedrich-Loeffler Institute, which was the agency hired for testing. Following these events