All-Out Effort to Stop Highly Pathogenic AI Spread... KRW 7 Billion in Special Grants Deployed Early

15 days earlier than last year, with funding increased by KRW 2 billion
Four cases reported at poultry farms following detection in wild birds at Suncheon Bay

The government will provide local governments with early funding for disease-control measures and fully activate its emergency response system to prevent further spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI) this winter.

Yonhap News Agency

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said on the 15th that it would make every effort to contain the spread, including by operating the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Response Support Headquarters, headed by the director general of the Office for Social Disaster Management, and providing KRW 7 billion in early special grants for disaster and safety management to 16 cities and provinces nationwide.

The special grants are being provided 15 days earlier than last year, and the total has been increased by KRW 2 billion. The measure is intended to support local governments’ proactive disease-control efforts. The funds will be used for on-the-ground measures, including purchasing disinfectants and operating disinfection facilities at key locations and mobile access-control checkpoints.

This winter’s first case of highly pathogenic AI was detected on October 20 in wild birds at Suncheon Bay in Suncheon, Jeonnam-Gwangju. The first confirmed case at a poultry farm was reported on November 3 at a layer farm in Yeoncheon County, Gyeonggi Province, with about 91,000 birds. Three more cases have since been reported: in Jangheung, Jeonnam-Gwangju, on November 5; in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, on November 6; and in Ganghwa, Incheon, on November 11, bringing the total to four.

Since November 4, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety has been operating the response support headquarters and dispatching field situation managers to areas where AI has been detected to inspect local governments’ disease-control responses. It is supporting coordination between disaster and safety departments and disease-control departments to ensure that initial measures, including movement restrictions and intensive disinfection, are carried out promptly.

The ministry is sharing disease-control updates and details of on-site measures in real time with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and is also conducting joint inspections of poultry farms with the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency. After completing emergency inspections of layer farms late last month, it has been stepping up regular and unscheduled inspections since the start of this month.

Kim Gwang-yong, head of the Disaster and Safety Management Division at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, said, "Highly pathogenic avian influenza can have a major impact not only on farms but also on the national economy, so I ask local governments to make every effort to ensure thorough disease control and respond quickly. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety will also do its utmost to prevent the spread of AI in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and local governments."

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