22 December 2016, 04:52 GMT
TOKYO (Sputnik) — According to Kyodo news agency, about 50 dead birds were discovered at one of the farms of the prefecture. Analysis showed that they were infected with the bird flu virus. To avoid the spreading of the virus the chicken will be culled within the radius of 2 miles from the farm. The operation carried out by 450 self-defense force members is set to continue until Wednesday.
At the beginning of December about 500,000 ducks and chicken were killed due to bird flu outbursts in Niigata and Aomori prefectures.
The current virus outburst is the first in Japan since January 2015. Accounts of bird flu outbursts including strain H5N8 cases earlier came from Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Poland, South Korea and other countries. In Russia, the hotbed of bird flu was discovered in the country's south in Kalmykia.
