The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), have received an increase in reporting of bird flu cases in Europe and Asia indicating that the virus is again spreading quickly across that region.
According to reports from South Korean authorities, approximately 770,000 poultry had to be slaughtered after there was an outbreak at a farm in Chungcheongbuk-do.
In Japan, the country experienced its first outbreak of the 2021 winter season at a poultry farm in the north-east of the country.
Across Europe, while 7,000 birds were affected in Norway in the Rogaland region, some countries have put measures in place even before an outbreak occurs.
In Belgharia the government ordered poultry to be kept indoors as of Monday, after a highly pathogenic variant of bird flu was identified in a wild goose near Antwerp. Both France and the Netherlands have put similar measures in place to protect their poultry population.
Bird flu circulates naturally among wild birds, it spreads to poultry and other captive birds when the wild birds migrate in the winter.
In rare cases Bird flu can be transmitted to humans if people touch infected birds, their droppings or bedding, or while preparing infected poultry for cooking.
Humans cannot get Bird flu by eating infected poultry.