Classical swine fever (CSF), formerly known as "hog cholera", is a highly contagious infectious disease that affects both domestic pigs and wild boars, with high morbidity and mortality. Due to its tremendous impact on the swine industry, CSF is therefore notifiable to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) (Zhou, 2019). Classical swine fever virus (CSFV), the causative agent of CSF, is classified in the genus Pestivirus within the family Flaviviridae. Currently, the genus Pestivirus includes eleven recognized species, such as CSFV, bovine viral diarrhoea viruses 1 and 2 (BVDV-1 and BVDV-2), and border disease virus. CSFV has a linear, non-segmented, single-stranded, positive-sense RNA genome of approximately 12.3 kb (Edwards et al., 2000). The genome consists