The Council of Agriculture has announced that cases of bird flu have been confirmed in 13 additional farms, bringing the total of infected farms to 792.
Head of the council’s quarantine bureau, Chang Su-san (張淑賢), said Thursday that the number of infections among waterfowl has been decreasing. At the same time, she also said that the epidemic is still having a severe impact on land fowl, especially in five hotspots centered in southern Taiwan.
Chang said that the Council of Agriculture will encourage farmers to raise poultry indoors from now on, in order to prevent a similar outbreak in the future. However, Chang said that the council will not force farmers to comply with its recommendations.
Chang said that farmers will have to apply for permission before restocking. They must show that they are more than 1km away from any infected farms in order to qualify. Farms applying for permission to restock will also have to use what are called “sentinel chickens”, or chickens used to detect the presence of a disease. Farmers will only be able to restock if the chickens are found to be free of bird flu after 21 days. Restocking for chickens is expected to begin in late March.