The government has raised its bird flu alert status to the second-highest level as cases of the contagious poultry disease have been confirmed.
 
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said the avian influenza(AI) alert level has been raised from 'caution' to 'alert' as of Sunday midnight. From Monday, the trade of raw or live chickens has been banned across the country.
 
Also under the alert level, municipal or provincial governments nationwide will run quarantine headquarters and situation rooms and take measures to restrict the movement of stock breeders to stop the spread of the virus.
 
Thirty-one thousand poultry have already been culled across the nation.
 
The upgrade of the alert level was made after poultry was confirmed to have contracted a strain of AI on Jeju Island, Busan, South Gyeongsang Province and Gunsan, North Jeolla Province as well as in Gyeonggi Province. 
 
It has not yet been confirmed if cases contracted the highly pathogenic strain of the disease.