A bird flu outbreak is reported in a poultry farm in Chonan, 90km south of the capital Seoul in South Korea. Experts have not determined if it is the H5N1 strain.
South Korean quarantine authorities are preparing to slaughter more than 270,000 poultry after an outbreak of a virulent strain of bird flu. The latest outbreak, in the centre of South Korea, is the fifth since the virus reappeared in the country in November after a three year absence. Chickens and other poultry are to be slaughtered within a 500m of the farm.
The World Health Organization has warned of a potential pandemic if the virus mutates to a form that can be more easily contracted by humans. More than 160 people worldwide have died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu.