France raises bird flu risk level

Paris [France], November 11: France has raised the risk level of the highly pathogenic bird flu from "moderate" to "high", the Official Journal of the French Republic reported on Thursday.
This will force nationwide farms to keep all poultry indoors and take additional measures to contain the spread of the highly contagious disease.
Farms in the regions of Brittany, Pays de la Loire and Deux-Sevres have already been subject to the mandatory confinement of their poultry, the French daily Le Figaro reported.
Cases of bird flu have also been detected in neighboring countries including Belgium, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands, it said.
The disease has caused the culling of 21 million birds in France since winter last year.
Source: Xinhua