After news simultaneously broke from different parts of Taiwan that pigs were dying after foaming at the mouth and with their feet ulcerated, on March 20, the Council of Agriculture (COA) declared Taiwan to be an area infected with foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), with all pigs in Taiwan threatened by the virus.
三月中，媒體暴露新竹等養豬場爆發疑似口蹄疫的豬隻死亡消息後，事件迅速擴大，三月二十日，行政院農委會宣佈台灣成為口蹄疫區，台灣境內的豬隻都可能感染致命的病毒。