More than 36,000 animals have been slaughtered after an outbreak of highly contagious bird flu was detected at a Dutch poultry farm, the agriculture ministry said on Monday.
"An outbreak of a variant of H5 bird flu has been detected in a poultry farm in Oldekerk, Groningen province," the ministry said in a statement, adding that it is "likely a highly pathogenic variant".
To prevent the virus spreading, the ministry ordered an immediate ban on the transportation of poultry, eggs, meat and manure within a ten-kilometre (six-mile) zone around the farm in the north of the country.
The government has ordered poultry farmers to keep their livestock indoors since December, when a bird flu outbreak at another farm led to the slaughter of 16,000 birds.
Dutch poultry farmers, already reeling from a contaminated egg scandal, were also hit by another outbreak in December which saw thousands of hens destroyed.
More than 36,000 animals have been slaughtered after an outbreak of highly contagious bird flu was detected at a Dutch poultry farm, the agriculture ministry said on Monday.
“An outbreak of a variant of H5 bird flu has been detected in a poultry farm in Oldekerk, Groningen province,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that it is “likely a highly pathogenic variant”.
To prevent the virus spreading, the ministry ordered an immediate ban on the transportation of poultry, eggs, meat and manure within a ten-kilometre (six-mile) zone around the farm in the north of the country.
The government has ordered poultry farmers to keep their livestock indoors since December, when a bird flu outbreak at another farm led to the slaughter of 16,000 birds.
Dutch poultry farmers, already reeling from a contaminated egg scandal, were also hit by another outbreak in December which saw thousands of hens destroyed.
