Prague/Jerusalem: Up to 220,000 chickens were culled in the Czech Republic following a bird flu outbreak at a poultry farm, the State Veterinary Administration (SVS) said.
The avian influenza H5N1 virus was discovered in the village of Brod nad Tichou in the country's Western Plzen region on December 30, reports Xinhua news agency.
The farm keeps around 750,000 chickens in three divided halls.
Originally about 120,000 chickens in one of the affected halls were to be culled. However, further tests conducted on Monday confirmed more infections in the same hall.
Millions of eggs from the farm will also be disposed of.
The results of tests taken in the remaining two halls are so far negative, the SVS said in a statement late Tuesday, noting that restricted zones have been established around the farm and emergency veterinary measures have been taken.
This outbreak is the country's "largest", according to the Czech News Agency.
The report also cited Gabriela Dlouha, head of the Czech-Moravian Poultry Union, as saying that the culling should not affect the quantity or the price of eggs on the market for the time being, as only less than 5 per cent of the about five million hens in the country will be culled.
However, she warned that the further spread of the virus would have greater economic impacts.
The Czech Republic has reported nine bird flu outbreaks since December 1, 2022, according to the SVS.
Earlier last month, Czech veterinarians culled around 15,000 ducks at a farm in the country's South Bohemian region.
In mid-December, the authorities imposed a nationwide ban on outdoor poultry farming to tackle "increasing outbreaks of highly pathogenic bird flu" in the country.
Meanwhile, Israel said that it has detected pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks at two more turkey farms in the country.
The first outbreak occurred among 25,000 turkeys in three coop structures at a farm in the village of Magal near the barrier wall built by Israel in the occupied West Bank, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in a statement.
A second outbreak was detected among 25,000 turkeys for breeding in three coop structures in the southern village of Be'er Tuvia, Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry as saying.
With the latest two turkey farms, bird flu outbreaks have been reported in nine poultry farms throughout Israel in recent weeks.
The Ministry called on breeders to keep birds indoors to reduce the risk of infection from wild birds and quarantined all coops within 10 km of the latest two outbreaks.
It also instructed the general public to buy poultry meat and eggs only at regulated selling sites, avoid buying unmarked and unpackaged eggs, and consume the cooked meat and eggs only.
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