Cases in H5N8 bird flu outbreak reach 100 in S. Korea

SEOUL, Feb. 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Saturday confirmed an outbreak of the H5N8 bird flu virus at a farm in a southeastern county, bringing the total number of cases from local poultry farms to 100.

The latest case of the highly pathogenic bird flu was reported at a farm in Tongyeong, about 330 kilometers southeast of Seoul, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

The farm is raising various poultry, including geese, ducks and chickens.

The previous wave of farm-linked infections ended in March 2018.

South Korean authorities have culled 28.6 million poultry as a preventive measure.

Earlier this week, South Korea decided to ease its intense precautionary measures and cull only poultry within a 1-kilometer radius of infected farms for the next two weeks, compared with the previous guideline of 3 kilometers.

entropy@yna.co.kr
(END)