S.Korea issues standstill order to prevent AI spread

South Korea will suspend the movement of all poultry and farmers in the country during the weekend to prevent further spread of avian influenza (AI), agriculture ministry said Thursday.

The so-called "standstill" order will be effective for 36 hours from 6 a.m. Saturday to 6 p.m. Sunday local time, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said.

About 106,000 poultry farmers and some 31,000 livestock facilities nationwide will be affected.

"It will come as part of efforts to strongly disinfect and decontaminate people and vehicles potentially capable of spreading AI," Lee Chun-il, head of the ministry's livestock policy bureau said.

Cases of highly pathogenic avian flu began to be reported from late last year as migratory birds flied into South Korea during the winter season.

In South Korea, more than 3 million poultry were culled in late 2011 as the highly pathogenic avian flu spread across the country. The standstill order was introduced in February 2012. Endi