April 18, 2008

 

South Korea to step up fight against bird flu

 

 

South Korea gears for an all-out fight against bird flu as police prepared to join troops in quarantine and culling efforts.

 

The South Korean prime minister Han Seung-Soo called Thursday on intensified campaign against the virus.

 

The country has now reported 21 outbreaks since the first early this month, with almost three million poultry culled.

 

Police said Thursday they had put 130 officers on standby in the badly hit southwestern Jeolla provinces to help cull chickens and ducks. A local police spokesman said they would be deployed on Friday.

 

The government has already deployed 200 troops in the region and readied firefighters to help fight the disease, with an alert extended to the whole country.

 

The country has confirmed the 21 outbreaks involved the bird flu virus, an agriculture ministry statement said, without specifying how many were of the deadly H5N1 strain.

 

Officials say at least seven of the total involved H5N1, including an outbreak at a farm in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul.

 

The ministry said it was investigating 18 more suspected cases as of early Thursday.

 

Officials have said that once the bird flu virus is confirmed, further tests are not always done and culling begins.

 

The ministry said a total of 2.9 million chickens and ducks have been culled in and around infected farms, mostly in the South and North Jeolla provinces which are a hub of the poultry industry.