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 Six cases of foot-and-mouth have been found in the latest outbreak
since the first case was confirmed a week ago. As of Sunday, some
1,200 cattle had been slaughtered, about 0.04 percent of the
country's total cattle population, the ministry said in a statement.
Most of the cases found were the O-type strain of the disease, but
the ministry raised the country's alert status to its highest level
and announced plans to import more vaccines after a second strain,
the A-type, was discovered last Thursday.
"Even though there are no big problems with vaccine supply, we are
seeking emergency imports of vaccines in case of additional
outbreaks of the A-type strain," Lee Junwon, vice agriculture
minister told a briefing.
Asia's fourth-largest economy regularly inoculates its livestock
against three-types of foot-and-mouth disease. Since the outbreak,
the government has re-vaccinated all cattle against the O-type
virus.
Currently, South Korea has 8.3 million doses for the O-type strain
and 990,000 doses for the "O+A type," where livestock can be
vaccinated for both strains, the statement said.
Another 1.6 million "O+A type" vaccines are due to arrive between
late February and early March and another 3.2 million O-type
vaccines are likely to arrive on Feb. 17 and Feb. 24, the vice
minister said.
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The vice minister said the current outbreak is having limited impact
on domestic beef and pork supply.
South Korea has also been grappling with the country's worst bird
flu epidemic since late November, and has culled 33 million farm
birds.
No new cases of bird flu have been reported for seven days, the
ministry said.
(Reporting By Jane Chung; Editing by Richard Pullin)
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