A highly pathogenic strain of bird flu has been confirmed at a chicken farm in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Government said Saturday that samples from a farm raising egg-laying hens tested positive for the H5N6 strain of avian influenza(AI).

Following a preliminary test also coming out positive, officials have culled some 240-thousand chickens at the farm.

Pocheon is South Korea's largest egg production area, accounting for around ten percent of the country's total egg output. The city houses 225 chicken farms. 

With the latest AI confirmation following an earlier case in Yangju in the same province, concerns are rising that bird flu could rapidly spread across the wider Seoul metropolitan region.