According to information from Efeagro, in addition, 2.53 million more chickens and ducks are expected to be slaughtered in the country in the coming days, said Lee Yon-jin, representative of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Rural Affairs, to the state agency Yonhap.

This would raise more than 12 million poultry slaughtered in the country since the first outbreak of the H5N6 strain found on November 16 in migratory bird faeces in Haenam.

This is the first outbreak in South Korea since last April, when 12,000 poultry were slaughtered. The largest outbreak of avian influenza in South Korea in recent years in 2014 led authorities to sacrifice more than 14 million animals, causing significant losses for the poultry sector.

By the end of 2015, Korea had 155 million chickens and 8.7 million ducks; the culls this winter would represent more than 7 per cent of the country's total poultry.

For its part, Japan is at the highest alert level for this strain of avian influenza virus, which has forced authorities to sacrifice more than 500,000 chickens and ducks.

Outbreaks of the H5N8 strain of avian influenza, which was found in some poultry in France, Poland and Sweden, is also keeping Europe on alert.

Further Reading

You can visit the avian flu page by clicking here.