January 28, 2014

The country's agriculture ministry said no human infection has been reported, while the ministry is looking into four additional reports from poultry farms and more than 50 other suspected cases in migratory birds.

South Korea has had four bird flu outbreaks in the past 10 years, without any cases of human infection reported. It will slaughter over 1.4 million farm birds, including 644,000 that have already been killed, according to the ministry. That would be under 1% of the country's total 160 million poultry population.

The government is stepping up disinfection measures for migratory bird at 37 sites across the country as it suspects they are the source of the latest outbreak.

It will also control the movement of some livestock workers in affected areas ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays from Thursday through Sunday, when many Koreans travel to family gatherings.