Confirmation that highly pathogenic avian influenza has been found in Turkey and that avian influenza is now also in Romania is of concern. It shows that there is a risk to the U.K. and this is a developing situation, which we are monitoring closely. |
I don't intend to speculate on the N-type until I have formal, official confirmation of this. |
Our working hypothesis is that any infection in the birds from Surinam is likely to have arisen in the quarantine system, most likely in the facility in Essex where the Surinam birds shared airspace with the birds from Taiwan. |
The closest match is a strain identified in ducks in China earlier this year. It is not so similar to the strains from Romania and Turkey. |
The confirmed case does not affect the UK's official disease-free status because the disease has been identified in imported birds during quarantine. |
The UK's disease-free status for avian flu is not altered here. We've got an avian flu in quarantine. All of the birds that come in from outside of the European Union come into quarantine and we picked up the avian flu virus in the UK quarantine system. |
There is no reason for public health concern. |
We are already in a high state of readiness. |
We are investigating whether there any links or movements between the two suspect farms and the confirmed infected premises. |
We've got a lot of work going on in investigating the background to this very important development. |