(Image: Korea Bizwire)
SEJONG, May 1 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s agriculture ministry said Tuesday that it has lifted a movement ban on local livestock farms as no additional cases of foot-and-mouth (FMD) disease have been reported in over a month.
Last month, the ministry also released a standstill order on poultry farms in 20 regions as there were no additional reports of avian influenza (AI) cases.
South Korea strengthened bird flu quarantine measures to prevent the further spread of the animal disease since the first outbreak at a duck farm in North Jeolla Province in November.
Between then and March 17, 22 cases broke out and 6.54 million poultry were culled, according to the ministry.
South Korea confirmed two FMD cases at two hog farms in Gimpo, west of Seoul, on March 26 and April 1, respectively, and slaughtered over 10,000 pigs across the nation.
They were the first confirmed cases in the country of the rare A-type FMD, prompting the quarantine authority to import vaccines specially designed to combat the virus. Quarantine authorities have recently completed vaccinations on pigs.
FMD is an acute infectious viral disease of livestock that causes a fever followed by the development of vesicles chiefly in the mouth and on the feet. It is one of the most infectious diseases for livestock and can spread rapidly if uncontrolled.
(Yonhap)
