18,000 chickens culled after H5N1 bird flu cases in Hunan

BEIJING: A city in China's central Hunan province reported that it had culled almost 18,000 chickens after an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said in statement on its website Saturday.

The statement didn't say when the outbreak occurred, or when the cull

happened. Hunan is next to Hubei, the epicenter of the separate coronavirus

outbreak.

The avian influenza, found in a farm in Shaoyang City, killed 4,500 chickens, more than half the farm's flock, the ministry said.

The city culled almost 18,000 poultry after the outbreak. The statement said the outbreak was of a "highly pathogenic subtype" of the H5N1 flu.

Since 2003, the H5N1 avian flu has killed 455 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organisation.