健康英语新闻:S Korea downgrades FMD alert level

SEOUL, April 12 (Xinhua) -- South Korea has downgraded its alert level for foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) one notch as the disease has practically come to an end, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said Tuesday.

The ministry said that it lowered the alert level from "orange" to "yellow," the second-lowest status in the four-tiered alert system, as no additional burial of livestock has occurred in three weeks after the last case in Hongseong, South Chungcheong Province, on March 21.

The country dropped the alert level from the highest level of " red" to "orange" on March 24.

The highly contagious animal disease, first confirmed on Nov. 29, has forced the country to cull more than 3.47 million livestock, mostly pigs and cattle, resulting in losses of 3 trillion won (2.6 billion U.S. dollars).

The ministry, meanwhile, said that 670 animal quarantine experts will continue to decontaminate livestock farms once every week and keep close watch to see if any animals become sick.