Bird flu: Poultry in Norfolk, Suffolk and parts of Essex to be kept indoors

All poultry in Norfolk, Suffolk and parts of Essex must be kept indoors from Wednesday, as part of a ramping-up of measures to prevent avian flu spreading, the government has said.

The affected areas were placed in an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone last month, after a series of outbreaks.

There have been 161 cases in captive birds detected in the past year – the UK’s largest-ever outbreak.

The previous record was 26 cases detected in 2020/21.

Around 48m birds have been culled in the UK and the EU this year, amid the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza.

The government has said the 3.2m birds culled in the UK were a “small proportion” of total production – about 20m birds a week.

In previous years, the virus has mostly died out during the summer months but this outbreak has persisted all year round, and spread more easily.