Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in China have announced an outbreak of bird flu the southern province of Hunan.
With the health officials in China battling the spread of coronavirus, the outbreak of a highly pathogenic strain of H5N1 bird flu at a farm in the southern province of Hunan was announced on Saturday.
According to reports, the virus was discovered on a farm with nearly 8,000 chickens — more than half of them have already died because of the outbreak.
The outbreak was reported on a farm in the city of Shaoyang in the Hunan province, according to China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Of the 7,850 chickens on the farm where the outbreak occurred, 4,500 died of the H5N1 avian flu, Reuters reported.
The Chinese government said it culled 17,828 chickens as a result of the H5N1 outbreak, per Reuters.
According to the World Health Organization, while H5N1 can be transmitted to humans, typically through contact with dead birds or a contaminated environment, it is rare in humans.
“The virus does not infect humans easily, and spread from person to person appears to be unusual,” the WHO said. “There is no evidence that the disease can be spread to people through properly prepared and thoroughly cooked food.” The mortality rate in humans is 60%, the WHO added.
