let's start with the latest on the bird flu outbreak here in korea...
the government has issued a so-called temporary standstill order which bans the movement of
livestock and farm workers after confirming an outbreak of the h5n8 strain of bird flu
at farms in the country's southwest. park ji-won starts us off. the government
was quick to act following the confirmation of korea's first cases of bird flu in over
two-and-a-half years. the movement of livestock and livestock-related
facilities and people in korea's southwestern jeolla-do province was banned for 48 hours
... in an attempt to contain the outbreak to that area.
the korean government has ordered a temporary standstill as of 12 a.m. sunday on livestock
people working at livestock farms and livestock facilities in jeolla-do province... to curb
the spread of the avian influenza... according to the country's livestock infectious diseases
prevention act.
the order remains in effect until midnight monday.
the agriculture ministry says as there have been no additional reports of possible infection
cases since sunday.... it has no plans to lengthen the standstill order.
currently... cases of the h5n8 strain have been confirmed at three local poultry farms
in gochang and buan counties. quarantine authorities say about 100-thousand
birds have been culled or will be culled over the next few days.
the exact cause of the outbreak has not yet been confirmed.... but experts are investig
ating the possibility that migratory birds brought the virus to korea.
korea culled more than three million birds during the most recent bird flu outbreak in
2011. park ji-won arirang news.