France raises bird flu risk level

France has raised the risk level of the highly pathogenic bird flu from “moderate” to “high”, the Official Journal of the French Republic reported.

This will force nationwide farms to keep all poultry indoors and take additional measures to contain the spread of the highly contagious disease, Xinhua news agency reported.

Farms in the regions of Brittany, Pays de la Loire and Deux-Sevres have already been subject to the mandatory confinement of their poultry, the French daily Le Figaro reported on Thursday.

Cases of bird flu have also been detected in neighbouring countries, including Belgium, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands, it said.

The disease has caused the culling of 21 million birds in France since winter last year.