South Korea mobilises army to speed up extended poultry cull in worst bird flu outbreak - 26 million birds culled

[Gert van der Hoek]

december 26, 2016

The number of birds that have been or will be culled due to the avian influenza(AI) outbreak has topped 26 million.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on Monday, a total of 26-point-14 million chickens and ducks in 531 farms have been or will be culled due to the H5N6 AI virus which began to spread from mid-November.

In particular, some 18-point-eight million egg-laying hens, or nearly 27 percent of all such hens in the country, have been culled, while roughly 378-thousand chickens raised for breeding were destroyed.

Meanwhile, the ministry launched additional quarantine measures after AI cases were reported in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province and Gimje, North Jeolla Province, which both house a large number of poultry farms.

[Gert van der Hoek]

South Korea mobilises army to speed up extended poultry cull in worst bird flu outbreak

dec 26, 2016 SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea on Monday (Dec 26) mobilised armed forces to play an active part in its biggest-ever poultry cull as the spread of a highly contagious strain bird flu continued, ordering that another 1.6 million birds be destroyed in affected areas within 24 hours.
The latest cull, announced in a statement by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, brings the total number of birds to be destroyed to 26 million in an outbreak first confirmed on Nov 18.
Quarantine and sanitary restrictions were implemented after the initial cases but the flu has spread.

Having previously stood guard at facilities affected by the outbreak, Korea's military will now actively help destroy birds and disinfect farms to accelerate the cull, the ministry said. Culls announced previously took two to three days to complete because of a lack of manpower, it said.

[Treyfish]

South Korea Department of Defense invested 2683 soldiers in the history of the most serious avian flu

2016-12-27 09:37:00

[World Wide Web Roundup] South Korean Defense Ministry on December 26, said in response to the history of the country is still within the spread of the most serious outbreak of bird flu is currently working with local government, and to provide manpower support.
South Korea's military on November 29 has invested 2368 soldiers and 274 disinfection vehicles for road epidemic prevention, and in addition to Jeju Road, 11 cities and roads outside the establishment of 47 mobile control posts.
31 departments of the Ministry of Defense, the Army Headquarters, the 1st and 3rd Corps Command and the 2nd Operational Command also set up the Disaster Countermeasures Headquarters when the bird flu alert was transferred to the "serious" level, monitoring the epidemic situation in real time. Local governments to discuss cooperation matters.


South Korean Defense Minister Han Minqiu also visited Gyeonggi Province Yangzhou Shi Shiyi army support site, condolences to soldiers. He said, I hope everyone in the pursuit of their own safety while actively supporting the people.
South Korea's Defense Ministry also said that at present in addition to burying slaughtered poultry, the shed to carry out cleaning and disinfection of direct measures, is also taking various measures to prevent the spread of the epidemic.https://translate.googleusercontent....PjXS0X6RVq39nQ