South Korea's agricultural ministry said Wednesday it is currently investigating two more suspected cases of highly pathogenic bird flu, with the total caseload standing at 88.

The latest suspected case of the H5N8 strain of avian influenza came from a duck farm in Buan, 280 kilometers south of Seoul, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

The country is also looking into another suspected case at a duck farm in Eumseong, 131 kilometers south of the capital city.

The country reported its first bird flu case traced to poultry farms in years in November.

Cases traced to wild birds also continued to grow to reach 167.

South Korea has destroyed 27 million poultry around infected farms so far to prevent the spread of the disease.

The move has led to a sharp increase in the consumer price of eggs, which shot up 44.2 percent on-year over the past week.

The price of chicken and duck meat also shot up 16.6 percent and 19.4 percent, respectively, ahead of the four-day Lunar New Year holiday that starts Thursday.

South Korea identified a whopping 340 cases of avian influenza traced to poultry farms during the previous wave, which ran from October 2016 to February 2017. (Yonhap)