France puts half of country's poultry farms on high alert for bird flu
Article continues below
Topics: FRANCE
Forty five departments in France are to be classed as high risk, while the rest of the country will be on medium alert, the government said in a decree published on Thursday in its official journal.
The high alert level requires poultry farms to keep animals indoors or use protective netting to prevent them coming into contact with wild birds that spread the disease. Live poultry can no longer be sold at outdoor markets.
“The presence of the virus in wild animals near France’s borders, in a migratory channel that crosses national territory, justifies the raising of the risk level,” stated the government decree. ■