South Korea has issued a serious nationwide warning regarding the spread of African Swine Fever(ASF) after authorities confirmed the first case of the virus in about two months the previous day.

The Central Disaster Management Headquarters announced Monday that the alert level for ASF had been raised to the highest “severe” due to an outbreak at a pig farm in Yeoncheon County in Gyeonggi Province.

The latest ASF case is the fifth to be reported so far this year following an outbreak in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, in July.

In response, the central government dispatched a quarantine team and an epidemiological investigation team to the affected farm to enforce emergency control measures, including blocking access to affected areas and conducting necessary inspections at all area farms, and ordered the culling of nearly 850 pigs to prevent further spread of the highly contagious swine disease.

To block transmission between farms, a standstill has been issued for Yeoncheon Country and five neighboring cities and counties to temporarily suspend movement at livestock-related facilities and vehicles until 8 p.m. Thursday.

In addition, disinfection measures have been implemented to cover more than 294 farms, as well as roads, towns and cities in and around the outbreak site.

The Central Disaster Management Headquarters said it does not yet expect the latest ASF outbreak to have a significant impact on domestic supply and demand for pork.