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SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea on Wednesday issued a nationwide bird flu alert, deployed troops and put firefighters on standby to try to contain the spread of the disease, officials said.

The agriculture ministry said in a statement the “orange” vigilance level was extended to the whole country after previously covering only the badly hit southwest.

The ministry said it had confirmed 20 outbreaks involving the H5 virus, of which at least six were the deadly H5N1 subtype, since the first case was reported in Gimje, 260 kilometres (162 miles) south of Seoul, in early April.

It is investigating 14 more suspected cases, including one on a farm in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometres south of Seoul.

Officials have slaughtered 2.2 million chickens and ducks in and around infected farms. These are mainly in the South and North Jeolla provinces, a hub of the poultry industry.

“As avian influenza is spreading, the military has decided to help slaughter and bury poultry in the infected areas,” a defence ministry spokesman said.

The spokesman said an initial contingent of about 200 troops was deployed in and around the Gimje area Wednesday to help cull chickens and ducks.

A separate group of about 180 soldiers had already been manning checkpoints to help control movements in infected areas.

The National Emergency Management Agency ordered local firefighters to be ready to help with disinfecting vehicles and farms or other tasks, although it said they would not take part in culls.

“We'll do whatever we can do to prevent the bird flu outbreaks from spreading nationwide, which is now a national concern,” Kim Kook-Rae, a senior agency official, told AFP.

Authorities have yet to fully explain why the outbreaks are not abating, but said Tuesday that a poultry dealer was under investigation for breaching quarantine restrictions.

The dealer was found to have taken hundreds of ducks from an infected Gimje farm and supplied them to retailers and restaurants in other regions.

The agriculture ministry said it had located 141 restaurants or farms which had recently been visited by the dealer, and had so far slaughtered poultry at 34 of the total.

South Korea reported seven cases of H5N1 infection between November 2006 and March last year, resulting in the temporary suspension of poultry exports to Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and elsewhere.

But last June the World Organisation for Animal Health classified the country as free from the disease.

The H5N1 strain has killed more than 230 people worldwide since late 2003. No South Koreans have contracted the disease.