(LEAD) S. Korea confirms new case of highly pathogenic bird flu

All News 21:22 February 01, 2021

(ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead; UPDATES with new case in paras 1-3)
By Kang Yoon-seung

SEOUL, Feb. 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea confirmed another case of highly pathogenic bird flu in poultry Monday, bringing the total caseload to 83.

The latest case was discovered on an egg farm in Anseong, 77 kilometers south of Seoul, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said. All poultry within a 3-kilometer radius of the infected farm were culled, officials said.

The country has now confirmed 83 cases of highly contagious bird flu since late November, when it reported the first such case in nearly three years.

The number of cases from wild birds also piled up to reach 125.

Officials cull chickens at a farm in Pohang, 374 kilometers south of Seoul, on Jan. 31, 2021. (Yonhap)

Authorities have destroyed 24.8 million poultry to prevent the spread of the disease, which led to a sharp increase in the consumer price of related goods.

The average price of fresh eggs shot up 38.8 percent on-year over the past week, with those of chicken and duck meat also rising 15.7 percent and 35.4 percent, respectively.

South Korea revised its anti-animal disease law in 2018 to cull all poultry within a 3-kilometer radius of infected farms.

The revision came after the country reported a whopping 340 cases of the H5N8 strain of avian influenza traced to poultry farms between October 2016 and January 2017.