PARIS – France and Denmark have confirmed bird flu cases, as they launched a culling days after an outbreak in the Netherlands triggered a similar exercise.
Hundreds of hens were put out to pasture after the virus was detected in a garden centre on the French island of Corsica.
France ordered national protection measures but insisted there was no need for people to change their habits.
Denmark, meanwhile, said more than 25,000 birds would be slaughtered after the virus emerged in the west of the country, adding that it had suspended exports of eggs and chickens outside the EU.
Authorities in Denmark also recently slaughtered millions of mink, after some were infected with the novel coronavirus.
Dutch officials said earlier this month they had culled more than 200,000 birds.
The virus, which is not harmful to humans but is potentially devastating to the farming sector, has also appeared recently in Belgium, Russia, Ireland and Britain among other countries. – AFP, November 17, 2020
