According to an update from the UK's Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Animal and Plant Health Agency, there have been 18 confirmed cases of avian influenza this week. Cases have been on the rise in the last weeks, likely due to increased movement of migratory bird flocks.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 was confirmed in non-commercial captive birds yesterday at a second premises near Witham, Braintree, Essex, as well as in commercial housed poultry on premises near Attleborough, Breckland, Norfolk. 

In both cases, a 3km Protection Zone and 10km Surveillance Zone were declared around the premises. All poultry on the premises will be humanely culled.

Mandatory housing measures for all poultry and captive birds in Norfolk, Suffolk and parts of Essex came into force on 12 October 2022. The housing order legally requires all bird keepers in these hotspots to keep their birds indoors and to follow stringent biosecurity measures to help protect their flocks from the disease, regardless of type or size. 

Further cases occurred near:

• Soham, East Cambridgeshire, Cambridgeshire
• Kirkham, Fylde, Lancashire
• Watlington, King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, Norfolk
• Dereham, Breckland, Norfolk, and
• Attleborough, Breckland, Norfolk