SEOUL, Safar 23, 1438, November 23, 2016, SPA -- South Korea raised the country's bird flu alert status on Wednesday to its second-highest level as two more outbreaks of the highly pathogenic H5N6 bird flu occurred after the first cases were confirmed last week, Reuters reported. The new bird flu outbreaks were discovered at two duck farms in the central and southwestern regions of the country, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday. All 30,500 ducks at the farms have been culled. One more case was confirmed on Tuesday and the second earlier on Wednesday, the ministry statement said. Since the first cases of the H5N6 avian influenza virus were reported in the same region last Friday, a total of four cases have been found and three other poultry farms in other parts of the country are being tested, according to the ministry statement. The agriculture ministry raised its bird flu alert level to 'alert,' from 'caution,' as an increasing number of farms are reporting suspected infections in a short period of time. --SPA 12:41 LOCAL TIME 09:41 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w275118