Goryeong County Mobilizes All-Out Preventive Quarantine to Block African Swine Fever and Avian Influenza

Strong Preemptive Preventive Quarantine Measures
Slogan: "I Must Protect My Own Farm"

Goryeong County in North Gyeongsang Province announced on February 20 that it is making every effort to block the spread of African swine fever (ASF) and highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI), which are occurring across the country, into its jurisdiction.

African swine fever (ASF) cases recently confirmed in Changnyeong County and Gimcheon City are epidemiologically linked to many farms within Goryeong, and the highly pathogenic avian influenza case that occurred in Yongam-myeon, Seongju County, is located approximately 9 km from large-scale broiler farms in Unsu-myeon. As a result, the risk of virus transmission is considered very high and the situation extremely serious.

In response, Goryeong County is implementing strong preventive quarantine measures, including: ▲ strengthening disinfection at base disinfection facilities ▲ mobilizing six control vehicles ▲ urgently distributing 2,600 kg of disinfectant ▲ restricting the movement of epidemiologically related farms.

Goryeong County governor Lee Namcheol strengthened the situation room and put staff on special emergency duty, maintained continuous surveillance of vehicles entering farms and the condition of live livestock, and deployed dedicated public officials to farms with weak biosecurity to conduct facility inspections and implement remedial measures. Photo by Kim Ihwan

Goryeong County holds a livestock quarantine council every year with producer organizations and relevant agencies to discuss ▲ sharing information on disease outbreaks ▲ reviewing preventive quarantine measures ▲ preparing response plans in case of an incursion into the county. Through this, the county has established advance training and cooperation systems to enable an immediate response in times of crisis. However, disaster-level livestock infectious diseases are characterized by causing enormous damage to farms as soon as they occur, so above all, blocking their entry is the most effective quarantine strategy.

The Goryeong County Livestock Quarantine Countermeasures Headquarters strengthened the situation room and implemented special emergency operations during the busy Lunar New Year holiday travel period, continuously monitoring vehicles entering farms and the condition of livestock, and assigning dedicated public officials to farms vulnerable to biosecurity risks to carry out on-site facility inspections and remedial measures.

In addition, under the slogan "I must protect my own farm," the county has been communicating quarantine conditions to farms in real time so that farmers themselves can heighten their awareness and vigilance regarding biosecurity.

Goryeong County stated, "Even if the current situation stabilizes, we will continue to work closely with relevant agencies and livestock farms and do our utmost to implement all-round preventive quarantine measures."