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Japan to cull 40,000 chickens after bird flu outbreak

Japan’s last outbreak of bird flu was in January 2018, also in Kagawa prefecture, when 91,000 chickens were culled.

AFP

The chickens of poultry farmer Theo Bos in Barneveld are pictured indoor because of the bird flu, on October 23, 2020.

Bird flu has been detected in a fourth Japanese prefecture, the agriculture ministry said, as a wave of infections at poultry farms spark the country’s worst outbreak in more than four years.

Avian influenza was discovered at a poultry farm in Hyuga city in Miyazaki prefecture on Kyushu island in southwestern Japan, the ministry said on its website on Tuesday.

There is no possibility that humans will contract bird flu from eating poultry or eggs, the ministry said.

Japan’s worst outbreak since at least 2016 started last month in Kagawa prefecture on Shikoku island, which is adjacent to Kyushu island.

Over 1.8 million chickens culled

The 40,000 chickens at the Miyazaki farm will be slaughtered and buried, while exports in a 3 km radius around the farm will be restricted.

The new action means more than 1.8 million chickens will have been culled since the latest outbreak began.

Japan’s last outbreak of bird flu was in January 2018, also in Kagawa prefecture, when 91,000 chickens were culled.

The last big outbreak was between November 2016 and March 2017, when a total of 1.67 million chickens were culled due to the H5N6 strain of bird flu.