Sputnik, Tokyo, December 17-- According to Japanese NHK's report, an outbreak of bird flu broke out in Saitama County adjacent to Tokyo, and 194,000 chickens were culled.

According to the report, a poultry farm in Saitama County found 76 dead chickens on December 16, 9 of which were tested carrying highly pathogenic avian influenza virus.

This is the third outbreak in Saitama Prefecture this season. The culling work started on the morning of December 17 and will continue until December 23. In addition, relevant departments have quarantined the transportation of chickens and eggs within three kilometers of the farm where the outbreak occurred, and prohibited the transportation of chickens and eggs to areas beyond 10 kilometers.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture of Japan, since autumn, more than 5 million chickens in the country have been culled due to bird flu. Due to the dire situation, the Ministry of Agriculture established a special task force to formulate measures to slow the spread of bird flu.

The first bird flu outbreak occurred in Japan in October, followed by 30 outbreaks in 18 prefectures. This year's spread has surpassed the previous record for the same season, with 9.87 million chickens culled from November 2020 to the end of March 2021, and 52 outbreaks in 18 counties.