Japan bird flu outbreak spreads as Fukuoka prefecture reports cases

Japan’s bird flu outbreak has moved to a second prefecture. Japanese authorities said that the East Asian country has detected a new outbreak of bird flu in a chicken farm in southwestern Fukuoka prefecture. This comes after the eight cases of bird flu reported this month in Kagawa prefecture. According to Japan Today, nearly 1,00,000 chickens in Fukuoka prefecture will be culled as a precautionary measure, while 1.3 million birds have already been culled in Kagawa prefecture. 

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First in three years

This is the first time in three years that highly pathogenic avian flu cases in Japan have been reported. The last big outbreak was in 2017 when over 1.6 million chickens were culled due to the H5N6 strain of the virus. The most recent outbreak of bird flu was first confirmed on November 5 in the city of Mitoyo in Kagawa. Since then, eight such cases have been reported across different farms in Kagawa and Fukuoka. 

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The Kagawa Prefectural Government on Saturday ordered the culling of some 77,000 chickens after the infection was detected at a poultry farm. The government had ordered testing of birds after receiving reports of an increase in the number of dead chickens. The government said that genetic testing confirmed that the flu is highly pathogenic. 

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This comes at a time when the world is battling with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has become a severe health crisis in more than 100 years. According to Japan's health department, over 1,36,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the country so far as infections continue to rise at an unprecedented level. Japan recorded its highest single-day tally on November 22 as 2,514 people tested positive. 

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(Image Credit: AP)