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As millions of Koreans enjoy the extended Lunar New Year break, its
easy to forget the country is still grappling with a serious bird flu
outbreak. Two more cases were confirmed on Thursday
but fortunately no new
suspected cases have been reported since the start of the holiday.
The government is coordinating a round-the-clock mission to sterilize
not only farms, but interchanges on highways that are chocked full of
people heading to or from their hometowns. Shin Se-min reports.
Most Koreans are spending time with their loved ones on this Lunar
New Years Day but thousands of government employees and quarantine
officials as well as the military and police are working tirelessly to try and
contain the spread of the bird flu. Government officials are on duty at sterilization
facilities at interchanges
on highways, and at bus and train stations across the nation.
Two more chicken farms reported confirmed cases of the bird flu on
Thursday,... a disturbing sign that quarantine efforts may only be having
a limited impact. Tests came back positive from a chicken breeding
farm in Hwasong, in
the central province of Gyeonggi-do, and another in Miryang in
Gyeongsangnam-do province, in the southeast of the country.
The confirmations prompted authorities in Gyeonggi-do province to cull
all chickens within 3-kilometer radiuses of the affected farms.
In Gyeongsangnam-do province, approximately 90-thousand chickens
will be destroyed,... in a preventive effort to stop the virus spreading.
The contamination in Miryang is especially disturbing as it shows the
virus is gradually spreading eastward across Korea.
This is also the first infection confirmed at poultry farms in Gyeonggi-do,
a region that is home to the largest number of chicken farms in the
country with over 55-million chickens. As a new step to stem the spread of the virus,
the government has
banned all sales of live chickens and ducks at traditional markets until
early next month. Shin Se-min, Arirang News.