[In this post: (1) South Korea; (2) China. See original texts at the source sites. EDITED.]
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(1a) [AVIAN INFLUENZA, POULTRY, SOUTH KOREA] All poultry in Seoul killed after bird flu outbreak
By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer
Mon May 12, 5:03 AM ET
SEOUL, South Korea -
South Korean officials said Monday they have killed all poultry in Seoul, the capital, to curb the spread of bird flu following a new outbreak of the disease in the city.
Quarantine officials destroyed 15,000 chickens, ducks, pheasants and turkeys raised in farms, restaurants, schools and homes in the capital, said Kim Yoon-kyu, a Seoul Metropolitan Government official.
The Seoul government said the slaughter was necessary to contain the disease. It said it will now focus on preventing live poultry from being brought into the capital.
The slaughter began Sunday night, hours after authorities confirmed Seoul's second outbreak of bird flu in less than a week.
The slaughter did not affect parrots, parakeets and canaries because they have little chance of spreading the disease, Kim said.
Government tests were under way to determine whether the outbreak was caused by the virulent H5N1 virus, said Kim Chang-seop, an official at the Agriculture Ministry. He said test results would be available as early as Monday night.
Outside Seoul, two outbreaks of the H5N1 virus were reported Sunday in poultry farms in Busan and Ansung, Kim said. He said it was the first time the virus has been found in Busan, the country's second largest city.
They were the 27th and 28th confirmed outbreaks of the H5N1 virus, Agriculture Ministry spokesman Yoon Young-ku said.
Bird flu began sweeping southern parts of the country last month for the first time in more than a year, forcing the slaughter of about 6.8 million birds.
The virus remains hard for people to catch, but scientists worry it could mutate into a form that spreads more easily between humans, with the potential to kill millions worldwide.
Worldwide, at least 241 people have died from bird flu since 2003, according to the World Health Organization. Most human cases have been linked to contact with infected poultry.
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(1b) [AVIAN INFLUENZA, POULTRY, SOUTH KOREA] Seoul to stop live poultry selling
May 13, 2008
Seoul city officials said yesterday they will seek permission from the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, and Forestry to halt all sales of live chickens and ducks in the city as a second outbreak of bird flu is suspected in Songpa District in southeastern Seoul.
The officials will also seek to stop all shipments of live chicken and ducks into the city. Officials asked citizens to report any illegal sales of live poultry.
City officials said they are also taking several measures to prevent human infections with the H5N1 strain of bird flu and to stop further outbreaks among fowls.
Dozens of chickens and ducks raised inside aviaries in Songpa District have tested positive for H5. Additional tests are being conducted to determine if it is the deadly H5N1 strain.
The second outbreak of avian influenza comes less than a week after the first confirmed outbreak at an aviary in the eastern district of Gwangjin.
Officials at the district office said that a total of 200 workers were dispatched to the infected area to cull some 8,000 chickens and ducks.
''We were culling birds starting this morning,'' said a district official who declined to be named. ''We are also investigating the route of infection.''
The National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service started tests on sites in the capital city area where poultry is bred.
To protect the capital city of more than 10 million people, workers have slaughtered about 15,000 birds, excluding pets.
''About 600 workers from the 25 district offices completed killing poultry to stop the bird flu spread,'' said a city official who declined to be named.
''My guess is that there will be no more bird flu cases in Seoul,'' he added.
No human infections have been confirmed in Korea, though the H5N1 strain can infect humans. Worldwide, bird flu has a mortality rate of over 50 percent in humans, according to the World Health Organization.
Last year there were 86 confirmed human infections with 59 deaths, according the WHO.
There is no vaccine against bird flu, though scientists are working hard to develop one.
In the meantime, Korean officials are stocking up with millions of tablets of Tamiflu, an anti-viral medication. Currently more than 6.8 million birds have been slaughtered in the nation since the first of some 37 confirmed outbreaks of H5N1 was reported in early April.
By Park Sang-woo Staff Reporter
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(1c) [AVIAN INFLUENZA, POULTRY, SOUTH KOREA, NORTH KOREA] N. Korea on alert for further bird flu outbreaks in S. Korea
SEOUL, May 12 (Yonhap) --
North Korea is intensifying efforts to prevent the spread of bird flu from South Korea by placing quarantine officials on high alert against possible outbreaks of the deadly disease, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper reported Monday.
The Chosun Shinbo quoted a North Korean government veterinarian, Tak Sung-choon, as saying that all state quarantine agencies have been vigilant since early April, when South Korea reported a bird flu outbreak in Gyeonggi Province, an area near the border between the two Koreas.
The remarks come as South Korea is struggling to contain the spread of bird flu after the first case of avian influenza was confirmed in the country's southwestern area.
At first, the disease appeared to be confined to a few chicken farms in the southwest, but it quickly spread across the nation despite intensified quarantine efforts.
On Sunday, South Korea reported a fresh case of bird flu in Seoul, the second outbreak in less than a week in the capital. Officials earlier said they completed culling tens of thousands of poultry being raised outdoors in the city as a precautionary measure to stem the disease.
North Korea was hit by bird flu in 2005, when it slaughtered more than 200,000 head of poultry, media reports showed. Since then, no new cases have been confirmed, according to the Chosun Shibo.
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(2) [CHINA] URGENT: Sichuan quake death toll rises to 8,533
CHENGDU, May 12 (Xinhua) --
The death toll from Monday's earthquake in southwest China's Sichuan Province has climbed to 8,533, according to local authorities.
The figure climbed from 7,651 provided earlier Monday night by the temporary headquarters for disaster relief headed by Premier Wen Jiabao in Sichuan.
Sources with the headquarters said casualties are being tallied in other areas affected by the massive quake, and detailed information is being collected on the damage.
The number of casualties is expected to rise as further destruction is reported. Authorities are yet to reach Wenchuan County, which sits at the epicenter of the earthquake with a population of about 112,000.
In Beichuan County, close to Wenchuan, the number of deaths is estimated at more than 3,000, as 80 percent of the buildings were destroyed by the quakes.
Li Chongxi, deputy secretary of Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, led a rescue team to Wenchuan, but was stranded at Dujiangyan City.
"We are doing everything we can, but the roads are blanketed with rocks and boulders," Li said.
Rescuers were clearing the debris to reach the quake-hit sites as quickly as possible, he said. Telecommunications links to the county had also been cut.
Editor: Mu Xuequan
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