Korea reports first avian influenza case in 6 months

Officials carry out a disinfection operation on a road in the city of Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, on Feb. 8, after a farm in the city reported a highly pathogenic avian influenza case. [YONHAP]

Korea on Wednesday confirmed a highly pathogenic avian influenza case at a duck farm for the first time in about six months, the agriculture ministry said.

The case was first reported Tuesday at the farm in the southeastern county of Yecheon, 165 kilometers southeast of Seoul, and the authorities confirmed the highly pathogenic strain of H5N1 earlier in the day, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo ordered the authorities to cull poultry within a 500-meter radius of the farm, as part of precautionary measures to stop the highly contagious viral disease from spreading.

The country last reported an avian influenza case in April this year.

Upon the report, the authorities cordoned off the farm and have implemented quarantine measures, including the culling of some 9,800 ducks raised there, as a preventive step, the ministry said.

Yonhap