DETECTION OF AVIAN INFLUENZA

[Anchor Lead]

A quail farm in Chungcheongbuk-do Province has tested positive for avian influenza. A travel ban has been issued for workers of poultry farms and livestock facilities nationwide until Thursday.

[Pkg]

​Avian influenza has been detected at a quail farm in Chungcheongbuk-do Province. Tests were conducted and the results came back positive after the farmer reported 2 days ago that some two thousand birds had died on the farm. Last winter, this farm was also the first in Chungcheongbuk-do Province to test positive for bird flu. This year the outbreak occurred a month earlier. Quarantine authorities are investigating if the virus is highly pathogenic. All the quails raised at the farm will be culled. According to new quarantine guidelines, birds at poultry farms located within a 500m radius from the affected farm must be culled as well for preventive purposes. However, there are no farms raising the same kind of birds in the area. A travel ban has been issued for workers of poultry farms, livestock facilities and livestock vehicles nationwide until 11 a.m. Thursday. Areas within a 10km radius from the affected farm will be subject to intensive monitoring, and some 2.97 million birds will be tested.

[Soundbite] Byun Jung-woon(Chungcheongbuk-do Provincial Government) : "We have banned the movement of hens and ducks within a 10km radius. We are disinfecting and testing birds and have issued quarantine rules for livestock farms as an administrative order."

To prevent the virus from spreading further, authorities are urging farmers to disinfect their facilities on a daily basis and sprinkle calcium oxide regularly.