Avian flu: three new cases in England 

Three new avian flu cases have been detected at sites in East Anglia and East Yorkshire, officials have confirmed.

Protection and surveillance zones are now in place around each of the affected sites – two in Norfolk and one near Beverley – where the H5N1 virus strain has been found.

The news takes the total number of cases confirmed in England since the present outbreak began last month to six.

Although the virus was confirmed at each of the latest sites yesterday (10 December), officials said they took the decision to “pre-emptively” cull birds at one of them – near Watton in Norfolk – on Monday because of “the clinical signs observed”.

Surveillance

The site was close to another premises where the virus had previously been confirmed last week.

Birds at the other two affected sites – near Dereham in Norfolk and Beverley in East Yorkshire – will also be culled. A 3km protection zone and 10km surveillance area have also been imposed around each location.

But restrictions around a site near Hornsea, where the H5N5 strain was confirmed in the first case of the current season last month, have now been lifted completely following what officials described as the “successful completion of disease control activities and surveillance”.

The protection zone around premises in Cornwall, where the first H5N1 case was detected, has also been lifted, although surveillance requirements remain in place.