Nearly 28 Million Poultry Culled Due to Spread of Highly Pathogenic AI

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] The number of poultry culled due to the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI) has approached 28 million. The scale is increasing as preventive culling is being carried out not only in confirmed farms but also to prevent the spread of AI.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on the 13th, as of 24:00 the previous day, a total of 27.58 million poultry were culled at domestic poultry farms. Among them, 14.629 million laying hens were culled at 174 farms, 6.984 million broilers at 98 farms, and 1.249 million breeding chickens at 38 farms. Additionally, 1.765 million meat ducks at 91 farms, 853,000 native chickens at 29 farms, and 168,000 breeding ducks at 21 farms were culled.

Quarantine authorities are maintaining their prevention posture during the Lunar New Year holiday to prevent the spread of highly pathogenic AI and African swine fever (ASF) and other livestock diseases. As of the 12th, a total of 92 cases of highly pathogenic AI have been detected at domestic poultry farms and 173 cases in wild birds. Regarding ASF, the number of cases has continued to increase since this winter, with a total of 1,072 cases reported since October 2019.

The government is conducting intensive disinfection using about 1,000 joint disinfection teams, wide-area disinfectors, and military decontamination vehicles in areas where wild boar ASF has been detected and surrounding pig farms and roads, and is continuing the "Nationwide Campaign to Eliminate Viruses in Poultry Farms."

The government supports disinfection outside farms such as roads around farms, small streams, and access roads, and since feed transport and livestock shipment continue during the Lunar New Year holiday, 220 key disinfection facilities and 231 control posts related to livestock vehicles are being operated normally to prevent cross-contamination.

Livestock farmers are being encouraged to disinfect livestock facilities, vehicles, equipment, goods, and people daily using their own disinfection equipment such as high-pressure sprayers, and the dedicated poultry farm officers (about 4,500 people) are checking whether disinfection is being carried out.

On the 15th, immediately after the Lunar New Year holiday, the government plans to operate a "Nationwide Simultaneous Disinfection" campaign to carry out virus elimination activities on farms, facilities, and vehicles.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.