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Cranes near the Sea of Galilee: Bird flu also affects migratory birds
Photo:
Oded Balilty / dpa
Israel is fighting the spread of bird flu.
A spokeswoman for the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture confirmed that there was an outbreak in battery cages near the town of Margaliot in the north of the country on the border with Lebanon.
320,000 laying hens would therefore have to be killed, in addition to 244,000 hens that had already been killed a week ago.
Mass deaths had also previously been observed in other laying batteries in Israel.
"The Ministry of Agriculture is concerned that people could be infected by infected battery cells near homes," said a statement.
It is now expected that there will be a shortage of eggs on the Israeli market - around 14 million eggs are missing every month due to bird flu.
The outbreak in Israel could have consequences for other regions.
According to media reports, about 20 percent of the cranes that come to Israel as migrating birds from southern Europe to stop there on their way to Africa are also affected by the disease.
Bird flu outbreak in a Czech chicken farm
There was also a case of bird flu in the Czech Republic a few days ago.
The avian flu virus of the subtype H5N1, which is potentially also transmitted to humans, has been detected in a Czech chicken farm near the border with Saxony, the news agency CTK and local media reported on Thursday evening.
Accordingly, 188,000 animals had to be killed.
Around 600,000 eggs were also to be destroyed by order of the veterinary authority.
According to the reports, the management of the poultry farm in Libotenice, around 70 kilometers south of Dresden as the crow flies, did not want to comment.
mmq / dpa