A suspected case of African swine fever(ASF) reported on Sunday in South Chungcheong Province proved to be a false alarm after a test for the disease turned out negative.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said the report came from a slaughterhouse in the area of Hongseong, some 150 kilometers south of Seoul.

After receiving the report, the ministry ordered some 70 slaughterhouses nationwide to suspend operations as a precautionary measure, but ultimately lifted the order later in the day after a test for the disease proved negative.

Sunday's report was the first suspected ASF case in South Chungcheong Province, which is home to two-point-four million pigs, or 20 percent of the country's eleven million currently being raised.