France puts country on high alert for bird flu

France raised the risk level of bird flu from 'moderate' to 'high' this Tuesday, after the detection of new cases of the disease, forcing poultry farms to keep birds inside sheds to contain the spread of the highly contagious disease. contagious. The decision, taken by the Ministry of Agriculture, was published in the Official Gazette this Tuesday. Bird flu has led to the culling of hundreds of millions of birds around the world in recent years. It usually attacks during autumn and winter and has been spreading in many European countries in recent weeks, including Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. France said last week it had detected a first outbreak of bird flu on a farm this season in Brittany, in the northwest of the country. The “high” risk level implies that all poultry must be kept on farms and that additional safety measures must be taken to prevent the spread of the disease. Although avian influenza is harmless in food, its spread is a concern for governments and ...