SEOUL - South Korea on Wednesday confirmed the second case of bird flu this year from a local poultry farm.

A highly pathogenic H5N8 strain of avian influenza (AI) was confirmed from an egg farm in Sangju, around 270 km southeast of Seoul, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

A highly pathogenic H5N8 strain of avian influenza (AI) was confirmed from an egg farm in Sangju, around 270 km southeast of Seoul

The government issued a standstill order on Sangju for one week and on other suspected areas between 24 hours and 48 hours in a bid to prevent the movement of all poultry and farmers.

The local authorities were culling 188,000 chickens and 120,000 quails raised at the Sangju poultry farm.

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An additional 251,000 chickens within a 3-km radius of the infected farm will be slaughtered, while 991,000 chickens within a 10-km radius will be tested and be under the 30-day standstill order.

The country confirmed this year's first AI case from a duck farm in Jeongeup, North Jeolla province on Nov 28. It was the first such case since March 2018.

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