SEOUL, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Two cases of foot-and-mouth disease were reported at separate livestock farms in South Korea, raising concerns about the spread of the contagion.
South Korea's farm ministry, which has imposed a nationwide quarantine, said in the first incident, a pig farm in Boryeong, 106 miles southwest of the South Korean capital of Seoul, reported testing positive for foot-and-mouth disease on its facility, Yonhap News Agency reported. It was the third such outbreak in the central province since the weekend.
The second case was reported on a cattle farm in Chuncheon, east of Seoul.
Quarantine authorities have ordered all the 72 heads of cattle and 23,000 pigs on these farms destroyed, Yonhap reported. Quarantine measures, including culling, also have been ordered within a 1,600-foot radius of both farms.
The outbreak, first reported on Nov. 29, has spread to five provinces and Incheon, a major South Korean port city, the report said.
The federal government has so far ordered the culling of 662,000 animals and vaccination of 452,000 livestock, Yonhap reported.
The highly contagious disease among livestock does not affect humans.
