The number of birds culled at poultry farms in Japan has exceeded 10 million as cases of avian flu continue to spread nationwide, the farm ministry said Tuesday.
A record 10.08 million birds have been culled so far this season, following an unprecedented 57 cases of avian flu across 23 prefectures. The figure surpasses the previous record of 9.87 million conducted between November 2020 and March 2021.
The figure comes as the Miyazaki prefectural government began Tuesday culling around 100,000 egg-laying hens at a farm in the southwestern Japanese prefecture after a new case was confirmed through genetic testing.
The case is Miyazaki's third and has led local authorities to impose restrictions on the movement of around 3.96 million birds in 123 farms within a 10 kilometer radius of where the newest infection was detected.
The central government will later confirm whether the latest case is the highly pathogenic type first detected in Hokkaido and Okayama prefectures in October, the earliest start for a bird flu season.
Egg-laying hens make up the majority of birds culled during this season's outbreak, and they account for around 8 percent of some 130 million hens raised nationwide.
The culling has led to an increase in the price of eggs and dealt a blow to households that are already hit hard by inflation.
It is believed that the latest avian flu surge in Japan was caused by migratory birds.
