The Ministry of Environment said in a statement that the procedures legally require all owners to “keep their birds in their homes and follow strict biosecurity measures to protect them from diseases regardless of their type or size.”
The decision announced today extends confinement already in place in several areas of England, where the risk of bird flu in wild birds has been assessed as “extremely high” by health authorities.
In the past 12 months, the UK has seen the largest outbreak of the disease ever, with more than 200 confirmed cases since late October 2021.
Since the beginning of October 2022, the disease has been detected in more than 70 sites, with multiple cases reported in wild birds.
With the rapid increase in the number of cases, “the risk of captive birds being exposed to disease has reached a point where it is necessary to confine all birds until further notice,” said Christine Middlemis, Director of Veterinary Medicine for the UK.
“This decision was not taken lightly, but it is the best way to protect your birds from this highly contagious disease,” he added.
The year-long outbreak is “the largest in Europe to date,” according to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which counted 47.7 million chickens slaughtered on contaminated European farms in one year.
Some cases of transmission of the virus to humans have been reported in China, the United Kingdom, the United States, and most recently in Spain, in the case of an employee of a poultry farm.
European health authorities consider the risk of infection to be “low” for people who have not had prolonged contact with poultry and “low to moderate” for people exposed to work.
Infections with foxes, seals and other animals have also been reported.
The risk of transmission to humans through consumption of contaminated meat or eggs is considered “negligible”.
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