South Korea confirms this year's first case of bird flu among poultry

South Korea has confirmed this year's first case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI) among domestic poultry.

The agriculture ministry on Saturday said a virus detected from ducks at a farm in Jeongeup, a North Jeolla Province city about 290 kilometers south of Seoul, in a pre-shipment test has been confirmed as the highly pathogenic bird flu of the H5N8 strain.

This test was carried out on Thursday.

The ministry added that an urgent response team was sent to the farm that houses about 19,000 ducks, and all of the birds were culled. There are six other poultry farms within a radius of three kilometers (1.9 miles) from the farm.

H5N8 is the same subtype of AI detected from among wild birds here this year. It is the first time in about two years and eight months that the highly pathogenic bird flu has broken out at a local poultry farm.

The authorities have issued an order to stop any activities at poultry and livestock facilities, as well as the movement of poultry products across the country for 48 hours, while for poultry farms in Jeongeup, the blockage will last seven days, and for farms within a radius of 10 kilometers from the site of the outbreak 30 days. 

The national alert level over the spread of bird flu has been raised to a "serious hazard."

Meanwhile, the South Korean Yonhap news agency reported that, as a preemptive measure, the province's government would cull about 392,000 chickens and ducks at farms located within three kilometers of the Jeongeup duck farm.