TOKYO, 9 Jan. About 930,000 chickens will be slaughtered in Japan's Ibaraki Prefecture on Monday due to an outbreak of bird flu, Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said.
The day before, a large number of dead birds were detected, subsequent genetic analysis confirmed the presence of a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu. This is the 56th case in the country since the beginning of the autumn-winter season.
According to the Yomiuri newspaper, which also refers to the Ministry of Agriculture, the anti-record of 2020 was broken when 9.87 million birds had to be killed in the country due to bird flu during the season: for the current season, which has not yet ended , almost 10 million chickens have already been destroyed — 9.98 million.
In connection with the critical situation, an emergency headquarters was created at the Ministry of Agriculture on Monday.
«According to experts, the concentration of the virus in the environment is extremely high. It is necessary that everyone be aware of the criticality of the situation and act cohesively at the level of the state and prefectures,» said the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, who was present at the meeting farm Tetsuro Nomura.
In addition, it was decided, if necessary, to provide assistance to farms to combat the entry of wild animals into poultry farms — carriers of infections, as well as to disinfect farms.
In a record-breaking 2020 season, 52 cases of avian influenza were detected in 18 of Japan's 47 prefectures. This season — 56 cases in 23 prefectures.