The Central Accident Control Headquarters for highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI) said on the 6th that highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N9) was confirmed at a layer farm in Yesan-gun, South Chungcheong Province. The farm is a large-scale operation raising about 653,000 layers.
The headquarters immediately dispatched an initial response team to the site to control access to the farm and carried out quarantine measures, including emergency culling and an epidemiological investigation.
This confirmation is the 39th case of highly pathogenic AI at a poultry farm in the 2025-2026 winter season. It comes 16 days after the case on Jan. 20 in Boryung, South Chungcheong. Quarantine authorities are wary of further spread due to the recent increase in migratory bird populations and continued virus detections in wild birds.
Accordingly, the government issued a 24-hour standstill order, effective on the 6th, for layer farms, related facilities, and vehicles in South Chungcheong and Gyeonggi provinces.
The headquarters plans to conduct special quarantine inspections through the 20th on 75 farms nationwide that raise 200,000 or more layers.
In addition, dedicated officials will be assigned to quarantine zones within a 10-kilometer radius of the affected farm and to layer farms nationwide with 50,000 or more birds, with intensive management in place through the end of this month.
In addition, the period from the 7th to the 20th has been designated as the "nationwide intensive disinfection period." The headquarters will strengthen disinfection at migratory bird habitats, poultry farms, livestock facilities, and vehicles, and will also conduct unannounced environmental inspections of livestock vehicles and goods entering poultry farms nationwide.