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Bird flu spreads in alarming pace amid political unrest, further hurting Korean economy

Collected: 2016.12.15

Distributed: 2016.12.19

Source: Go Direct

Authorities are disinfecting wintering sites of migratory birds near Sungho Reservoir in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province in this photo taken on Wednesday. [Photo by Lee Seung-hwan]

When it rains, it pours to a flooding point in South Korea as highly pathogenic H5N6 avian influenza (AI) virus breaks out in a roaring pace and force across the country while state authorities have been distracted with the political scandal and stalemate that has led to impeachment on the president, bringing massive damages to farms and restaurants and sending meat and egg prices sharply up.

Record number of over 10 million chickens and ducks has been culled in less than a month since the virus strain was first reported in central and southern rural areas on Nov. 16. The outbreak was uncontained even with three standstill orders to restrict movements in disease-hit areas. The financial toll is now expected to reach 423.3 billion ($358.7 million). The government is considering raising the alert to the highest level.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said Wednesday a total of 10,669,000 chickens and ducks were culled, with 3.78 million on the waiting list. The ongoing outbreak is already worse than the one in 2014, when 13.96 million fowls were put down over 195 days.

The fast spread is blamed on the lax quarantine actions in the early stage. The diseases were reported mostly in farms in poor state.

“The outbreak worsened because state management had been in limbo with the government entirely preoccupied with the political scandal and impeachment,” said Jung Min, senior researcher at Hyundai Research Institute.

By Seo Dong-cheol and Na Hyun-joon

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