South Korea stepped up efforts to curb the spread of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI) as the country reported a case at a local poultry farm for the first time in 32 months.

Agriculture Minister Kim Hyun-soo said on Sunday in an online briefing that the government decided the country's AI situation was very serious and strengthened related quarantine measures as a highly pathogenic AI case was detected at a local farm as well as among wild birds.

The remarks came a day after the nation confirmed its first case of the highly pathogenic AI H5N8 strain among domestic poultry at a duck farm in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province.

The minister said the government immediately raised its AI alert by one notch to the highest "serious" level upon confirmation and took the highest-level quarantine measures to contain the spread of the virus.

Active disinfection efforts are under way for the habitats of migratory birds, roads and streams near the Jeongeup farm in North Jeolla Province.

Quarantine authorities also plan to carry out four rounds of thorough disinfection starting on Sunday for small reservoirs, streams and roads near some 57-hundred poultry farms across the nation.