Pyeongtaek Takes Swift Action on Foot-and-Mouth Disease Prevention

Pyeongtaek City is drawing its sword in foot-and-mouth disease prevention.

Following the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease at a dairy farm in Susin-myeon, Cheonan City, South Chungcheong Province on the 2nd, Pyeongtaek City—located just 28 kilometers away from the infected farm—is taking swift countermeasures, including convening an emergency response meeting to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease.

According to the city on the 3rd, it convened an emergency meeting of township and district office heads on the 2nd to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease and announced it would implement quarantine measures and vaccination programs.

To this end, from the 3rd to the 5th, the city mobilized 30 teams comprising 90 personnel to conduct vaccinations on 32,596 head of cattle across 625 facilities and is encouraging livestock farms to disinfect daily—once for cattle and two to three times for pigs—as part of their daily routine.

Additionally, the city has secured 1.13 million tons of quicklime and 20,000 tons of disinfectant, is spreading quicklime in major livestock-dense areas and roadsides, and is expanding disinfection operations using five specialized quarantine vehicles (three from the city and two from the agricultural cooperative).

A city official stated, "As foot-and-mouth disease has occurred in nearby Cheonan City, we are making our utmost efforts to prevent its spread," adding, "We will actively support all administrative resources to carry out quarantine measures to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease."

Meanwhile, in the Pyeongtaek area, there are currently 772 cattle farms with 31,427 head, 95 pig farms with 128,415 head, 56 deer farms with 825 head, for a total of 974 farms raising 162,141 cloven-hoofed animals (foot-and-mouth disease quarantine targets).