TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th January, 2023) Some 502,000 chickens will be culled in Japan's prefectures of Chiba and Miyagi due to a bird flu outbreak, the Agriculture Ministry said on Saturday.
"A highly pathogenic avian influenza virus was confirmed today at a farm in Chiba prefecture. This is the 70th case this season. Some 250,000 chickens will be destroyed. Due to the increase in bird deaths, an investigation was conducted. Tests have shown positive for avian influenza. Genetic analysis confirmed the presence of a highly pathogenic strain," the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry also noted that two other outbreaks were detected on Friday in the same prefecture of Chiba and on Saturday in the prefecture of Miyagi. Another 240,000 chickens will be culled in Chiba and 12,000 in Miyagi, the ministry added.
The authorities introduced a quarantine within a 3-kilometer (1.86-mile) radius around the disease-hit farms and banned the transportation of eggs and chickens beyond a 10-kilometer zone, according to the statement.
About 11 million chickens have already been destroyed in Japan this season, which is an all-time high for Japan now. In the season before last, from November 2020 to the end of March 2021, during which the poultry industry suffered the most extensive damage due to bird flu, 9.87 million chickens were culled, and there were 52 outbreaks in 18 prefectures.
