Six Monday, two more Thursday, the number of farms affected by bird flu continues to grow.
"About 600,000 to 650,000" poultry have been slaughtered in France since the first case of avian flu detected in a farm at the end of November, according to provisional figures from the Ministry of Agriculture.
While there were 16 on December 23, the ministry now lists 26 outbreaks of the virus in farms, mainly in the South-West, 15 cases in wildlife and 3 cases in backyard.
It has therefore extended the preventive measures to an entire breeding area in the South-West, around the town of Malaussanne, where another outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza was confirmed a week ago.
Until January 7, in perimeters of 20 km around infectious foci (against 3 and 10 previously), it is forbidden to set up day-old poultry, all species combined.
This measure is intended to limit the risk of contamination in a breeding area with a high risk of spreading the virus, due to the large number of farms located there.
Three H5N1 bird flu epizootics since the end of 2015
"An economic support system will support the hatcheries whose hatching eggs will have to be destroyed and the breeders who will have to maintain a crawl space in their farms", specifies the ministry.
Brought by migratory birds that come into contact with poultry, the virus was identified for the first time on November 26 in the North, in the town of Warhem where 160,000 laying hens were reared in buildings.
Several weeks before, the health authorities had asked all producers in mainland France to confine their poultry in order to avoid contact with migratory birds.
France has been affected by three epizootics of H5N1 avian influenza since the end of 2015. That of last winter affected 15 departments and led to the slaughter of 3.5 million farmed poultry.
The consumption of meat, fatty liver and eggs - and more generally any food product made from poultry - does not present any risk for humans.
