Over 180,000 Chickens and Ducks to be Destroyed in the Czech Republic Due to Avian Influenza

In poultry farms near Prague, in the Central Bohemia Region and the Královéhradecký Region in northern Czech Republic, veterinarians will destroy 182,500 chickens and ducks due to the spread of the highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza. TASS reports this, citing Czech radio.

Of the total, 175,000 chickens will be destroyed in the village of Košický in the Královéhradecký Region, and 7,500 ducks in the Zagornice village in the Nymburk district of Central Bohemia.

There have been 25 registered outbreaks of avian influenza in the Czech Republic. In recent days, over a third of more than 150,000 ducks that farmers use for breeding have been destroyed. Since the beginning of this year, avian influenza has spread throughout virtually the entire territory of the Czech Republic.

Government authorities plan to appeal to the European Union with a proposal to provide compensation to poultry farm owners and individual farmers who have been forced to cull their birds. The Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic previously identified that the transmission of the disease to domestic birds occurred through wild ducks. The risk of human infection with avian influenza is assessed as very low.

A major outbreak of avian influenza was recorded in the Czech Republic at the beginning of 2020, also caused by wild birds, leading to the destruction of nearly 140,000 domestic birds.