Due to increasing outbreaks of highly pathogenic bird flu in the Czech Republic, the State Veterinary Administration (SVS) announced emergency veterinary measures that prohibit all poultry breeders to keep poultry in the open air and orders them to place farmed birds in buildings on the farm. 

Where it is not possible to enclose poultry indoors must at least limit the outdoor areas to which poultry can access and minimise contact with wild birds as much as possible. The aim of these measures is to prevent the spread of the disease to farms.

The regulation also restricts the movement of people in poultry farms only to people whose activities are absolutely necessary to ensure proper care. 

"We appeal to all poultry breeders to strictly observe the ordered emergency veterinary measures in their own and public interest, we also ask them to observe the principles of biological safety in farms," said SVS central director Zbyněk Semerád. "Changes in health status or increased deaths in farms must be reported immediately to the regional veterinary administration."

Six new outbreaks of bird flu have been confirmed in the Czech Republic since the beginning of December this year, five in small poultry farms and one in a large-scale duck farm for fattening. 

Four of the outbreaks are located in Central Bohemia and two in South Bohemia. In all cases, it was a highly pathogenic variant of the H5N1 subtype.