Quarantine officials prepare to cull ducks at a farm in Gokseong, South Jeolla Province, on Dec. 31, 2020, as an avian influenza case was found there. (Yonhap)

South Korea's agricultural ministry said Wednesday it has completed culling 13.6 million poultry as a preventive measure to cope with the rising number of highly pathogenic bird flu cases from local farms, with the total caseload approaching closer to 50.

Under the country's quarantine guideline, all birds within a 3-kilometer radius of infected farms should be culled, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. They included 10.8 million chickens.

The ministry confirmed an outbreak of the highly contagious H5N8 strain of avian influenza at a duck farm in Eumseong, 131 kilometers south of Seoul.

The country has so far found 47 cases of the highly pathogenic bird flu from local farms since late November.

The government said it has culled all birds raised within a 3-kilometer radius of the affected farm and issued a seven-day standstill order for all poultry farms in the county.

Of the total reported cases at farms so far, Gyeonggi Province that surrounds Seoul has accounted for 12, trailed by South Jeolla Province with 10.

The number of cases reported from wild birds, meanwhile, reached 58. (Yonhap)