SEOUL (Bernama-Yonhap): South Korea on Monday reported another case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI) at a layer farm in southern Gyeonggi Province, marking the fifth such case since the cold season started, Yonhap News Agency reported.
The H5N1 bird flu was detected at the farm in Hwaseong, about 60 kilometres south of Seoul, which had reported two more cases of bird flu in the past five years, according to the Central Disaster Management Headquarters (CDMH).
This marks the fifth case of highly pathogenic AI in the country since September, when the temperatures started going down, and the second such case at a layer farm.
The CDMH said it will conduct special quarantine inspections at some 230 layer farms where bird flu cases previously broke out, while strengthening monitoring on vehicles visiting the affected farm to prevent the further spread of the disease.
"Recent bird flu outbreaks at poultry farms have been repeatedly confirmed in the southern Gyeonggi region, but with winter migratory birds beginning to arrive in the country and highly pathogenic AI cases being detected across wild birds in six different regions, there is a high risk of additional outbreaks anywhere in the country," Lee Dong-sik, an agriculture ministry official in charge of quarantine policies, said in a press release.
Lee called on all poultry farm workers and related personnel across the country to remain vigilant and "strictly" follow quarantine steps, such as entry control of people and vehicles at the farms and disinfectant measures. - Bernama-Yonhap
