nearly 10 million birds culled as avian flu rages

9.98 million birds at poultry farms have been culled in Japan this season amid the nationwide surge in cases of avian influenza, the farm ministry said Monday.

On the day, a poultry farm in the town of Shirosato in Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, confirmed a bird flu outbreak, and has started culling about 930,000 chickens at the farm, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

The case brought the number of outbreaks of avian influenza to 56 across 23 prefectures in Japan this season, topping the previous record, while the number of birds culled has exceeded the level during the 2020-2021 season, according to the ministry.

The season's first case of bird flu was confirmed in October last year on a poultry farm in Okayama Prefecture, western Japan.

Under the current situation in Japan, it is impossible for consumers to contract bird flu from eating meat or eggs from infected chickens, the ministry added.

-RSS