Foot-and-mouth disease confirmed after 9 months; alert level in Incheon and Gimpo raised to 'serious'

According to Financial News, foot-and-mouth disease has been confirmed in South Korea for the first time in nine months, prompting authorities to raise the alert level for Incheon Metropolitan City and Gimpo City, Gyeonggi Province to "serious."
The Central Foot-and-Mouth Disease Disaster Response Headquarters announced on the 31st that, following the outbreak, the alert level for Incheon Metropolitan City and Gimpo City has been upgraded from "attention" to "serious." The move comes after foot-and-mouth disease was detected the previous day at a cattle farm in Ganghwa County, Incheon, marking the first such case this year.
The Central Disaster Management Headquarters (CDMH) has dispatched an initial quarantine team and an epidemiological investigation team to the farm to prevent further spread and is currently conducting an investigation. All 246 cattle being raised at the farm will be culled in accordance with the Emergency Action Guidelines and the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).
Foot-and-mouth disease is an infectious disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep, and goats. Because of its high transmissibility, it is classified as a Type I livestock infectious disease.
To block transmission, CDMH has issued a 48-hour standstill order for cloven-hoofed livestock farms, livestock-related facilities, workers, and vehicles in Incheon Metropolitan City and Gimpo City. Authorities are also carrying out disinfection and cleaning of facilities and vehicles.
In addition, 39 available disinfection units, including large-area disinfection sprayers and quarantine vehicles, will be deployed to disinfect cloven-hoofed livestock farms and nearby roads in Incheon Metropolitan City and Gimpo City.
From today until February 8, emergency vaccination and clinical examinations will be conducted on 92,000 animals at all 1,008 cloven-hoofed livestock farms in Incheon Metropolitan City and Gimpo City.
Furthermore, three experts from the Central Livestock Epidemic Control Unit have been dispatched to the affected farm to oversee on-site quarantine operations, including culling, burial, and disposal of remaining materials.
This is the first occurrence of foot-and-mouth disease in nine months, since April last year. The disease was first reported on March 13 last year in Yeongam County, and a total of 19 cases were confirmed by April 13 of the same year.

yimsh0214@fnnews.com Im Sang-hyuk Reporter