THE HAGUE (Reuters) – The Dutch farm ministry has ordered all commercial poultry farmers should keep their birds confined indoors as of midnight on Tuesday following reports of a German outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu virus.
The measures are to ensure that Dutch commercial poultry do not catch the disease from potentially infected wild birds from neighboring Germany, the ministry said in a press release.
It noted that the latest infection in Germany was closer to the Dutch border than those reported earlier, increasing the risk of infection from wild birds.
The measures will be reviewed in four weeks, the ministry said.
(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg; editing by David Evans)
