Yongin City Implements Special Measures to Prevent Livestock Infectious Diseases in Winter

Intensive Management of Highly Pathogenic AI and Foot-and-Mouth Disease
Operation of Farm Control Posts and Key Disinfection Facilities

Yongin City in Gyeonggi Province announced on the 23rd that it will implement special measures to prevent the introduction of livestock infectious diseases recently occurring in nearby areas.

The viruses targeted during the measure period are highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI) and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). To this end, the city has designated the period from next month until February of next year as the special quarantine measure period and plans to operate the Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters and the Livestock Quarantine Situation Room 24 hours a day during this time.

A quarantine vehicle is disinfecting at a livestock farm in Yongin City.
[Photo by Yongin City]

To prevent the occurrence and introduction of AI, the city will manage quarantine status by operating two farm control posts at large-scale poultry farms with more than 100,000 birds. In Baekam-myeon, Cheoin-gu, a base disinfection facility will be installed to disinfect vehicles, and nine quarantine vehicles will be mobilized to frequently disinfect areas around migratory bird habitats and densely populated farming areas. To detect suspected infected livestock early, dedicated poultry farm officers and specialized poultry veterinarians will be dispatched to conduct farm surveillance activities and inspections.

To respond to the spread of foot-and-mouth disease, a mass vaccination campaign will be conducted for cattle and goat farms throughout October. The quarantine status of farms vulnerable to infectious diseases will be inspected, and fines will be imposed on farms with low virus antibody positivity rates or those that have not been vaccinated. The city plans to restrict the movement of cattle and pig manure outside designated areas during the special measure period to block farm-to-farm transmission of foot-and-mouth disease.

Meanwhile, in the Yongin area, 16,000 cattle are raised on 272 farms, 180,000 pigs on 113 farms, and 3,465,000 chickens on 102 farms.

A city official urged, "We ask livestock farmers to actively cooperate with quarantine measures such as strengthening disinfection and controlling the entry of outsiders and vehicles to block highly pathogenic AI and foot-and-mouth disease."