South Korea Confirms Highly Pathogenic Bird Flu Cases
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Human infections caused by the H5N6 virus have previously been reported in China and Hong Kong.
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A researcher checking a chicken at a farm in Xiangyang, China, in 2017 (China Stringer Network, via Reuters)
The South Korean Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said the number of cases of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza in the country has risen to six, and has thus stepped up quarantine measures in response.
The sixth bird flu outbreak in the country was discovered at a duck farm in Gangjin county, South Jeolla Province. All 24,000 ducks at the 'hotspot' farm will be culled.
The reason is that according to regulations, all birds in farms within a 3-kilometer (1.8-mile) radius of the infected farm must be culled. Moreover, bird farms and livestock facilities within 10 kilometers of a disease hotspot are required to suspend operations for 30 days and temporarily halt product transportation across the country.
On November 10, health officials in Japan's Akita prefecture were reported to have ordered the culling of over 140,000 chickens due to an avian influenza outbreak.
