The outbreak of bird flu affecting fowls in Taiwan continues to spread. The agriculture council said on Tuesday that any fowl farms with high death rates and confirmed to have the highly pathogenic H5 bird flu strain will slaughter the birds immediately.
Agriculture minister Chen Bao-ji explained.
“If sample fowls test positive with the H5 strain, we will slaughter [all the birds] in those farms immediately," said Chen.
"So we should be able to contain the outbreak of the flu in the shortest period of time. We have the support of the local disease prevention agencies.”
The Animal Health Research Institute said test results for the deadly H5 strain can be out the day after the test.
The number of fowl farms being inspected for the bird flu increased from 38 to 65 on Tuesday. Those confirmed to be affected by the flu went up from 6 farms to 20. Inspections have expanded to include chickens in addition to ducks and geese. Three of the 6 special municipalities, including Taoyuan and Kaohsiung cities, have been affected.