The bird flu spreading in South Korea does not appear to be transmissible to humans, health authorities said yesterday.
Officials have been racing to contain the disease since 21,000 chickens died at a farm earlier this month in Umsung, 70km south of Seoul.
Sixty-three people who came in contact with the infected birds haven't shown any symptoms of the flu following the four to five day incubation period, said Kim Moon-shik, director-general of the National Institute of Health.
PHOTO: AP
"Therefore, we suspect that the bird flu does not transfer to humans," he said after an emergency meeting convened by Prime Minister Goh Kun.
Authorities have set up a quarantine area in Umsung since the initial outbreak earlier this month, but the disease has spread to farms outside the area.
Also, test results for suspected cases in the cities of Kyongju and Naju are expected on Tuesday. Kyongju is 160km southeast of Umsung, and Naju is 230km southwest of Umsung.
Since the outbreak, authorities have culled some 170,000 ducks and chickens as a precaution after finding some birds infected with the H5N1 virus.
Authorities are investigating whether they could have the H5N1-97 strain, which crossed from chickens to humans in Hong Kong in 1997, killing six people.
South Korea exports processed chicken and duck mostly to Japan, but a ban on exports following the first suspected case of bird flu made it unlikely that any infected meat was shipped, an official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said on condition of anonymity.
Virus samples were to be sent to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, for definitive testing, and results were expected to take a month.
South Korean officials say the risk of transmission to humans is small because most strains of H5N1 can't cross over from birds to humans.
Less severe bird flu outbreaks have hit South Korea periodically since 1996.
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
RSS