Birds culled after avian flu outbreak confirmed in Herefordshire

The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs said highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 was confirmed in other captive birds on January 10.

The outbreak is at a premises near Leominster in Herefordshire, a spokesperson for the department said.

The zone has been put in force near Leominster (Image: Animal and Plant Health Agency)

A three-kilometre captive bird (monitoring) controlled zone has been put in place around the premises.

All birds on the premises will be humanely culled.

In the United Kingdom, there have been 159 confirmed cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 since October 1, 2022, with 141 of those cases found in England.

There have now been 275 cases of (HPAI) H5N1 in England since the H5N1 outbreak started in October 2021.

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The NHS said the strain does not infect people easily and is not usually spread from human to human.

But several people have been infected around the world, leading to a number of deaths, it said.

Wild birds migrating to the UK from mainland Europe during the winter months can carry the disease and this can lead to cases in poultry and other captive birds, it said.

Public health advice remains that the risk to human health from the virus is very low and food standards bodies advise that avian influenzas pose a very low food safety risk for UK consumers.

But people are told not to touch or pick up any dead or sick birds that they find and instead report them by calling 03000 200 301.

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