(Changwon=Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Jeong-hoon = Gyeongnam Province announced on the 29th that it will push forward high-intensity prevention measures following the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs raising the avian influenza (AI) crisis alert from 'caution' to the highest level 'serious'.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs raised the AI crisis alert to serious for all local governments on the 27th after highly pathogenic AI was confirmed in a goose farm in Gwangju City on the 21st.
Accordingly, the province has upgraded the AI prevention situation room to a prevention task force with the governor as the head, maintaining a 24-hour emergency prevention system.
It will operate 20 city/county disinfection facilities at all times and add control posts in densely populated laying hen areas and around large poultry farms to check whether vehicles entering and exiting are disinfected.
It will also strengthen prevention measures by shortening the AI testing cycle for chickens and ducks, prohibiting gatherings of livestock-related individuals, operating a concentrated disinfection week for migratory bird arrival areas and poultry farms, and restricting duck farming in key prevention areas (November to March of the following year).
The province explained that although no highly pathogenic AI virus has been detected in wild birds yet, highly pathogenic AI occurred for the second time this year in Gwangju City, following the occurrence in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, in September, as winter approaches.
seaman@yna.co.kr