Acting President Hwang calls for efforts to plug loophole in AI quarantine operations

Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn on Friday called on quarantine officials to strive harder to plug any loophole in their operations to contain avian influenza (AI) that has devastated chicken farms across the country since last month.

"If we fail to pay attention to just one or two (farms), a loophole will emerge, and AI will further spread. Thus, we need strong, thorough quarantine measures," he added.

The acting president, in particular, stressed the need to strengthen disinfection measures for egg farms across the country, which have been cited as one of the causes for the continued spread of AI.

Hwang also ordered central and provincial governments to beef up their coordination in carrying out quarantine measures.

Last week, a new type of AI was discovered, which put quarantine officials on higher alert.

The H5N8 strain of the bird flu was detected at a chicken farm located in Anseong, some 77 kilometers south of Seoul. The country has also suffered from the spread of the H5N6 strain, which is seen as more pathogenic than the H5N8 type.

To prevent additional AI outbreaks, authorities have culled some 22 million chickens since the first outbreak was recorded on Nov. 16.

(YONHAP)