The UK’s Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer has confirmed highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1, commonly known as bird flu, at poultry premises near Great Cornard, Sudbury, in the district of Babergh.
A 3km Protection Zone and a 10km Surveillance Zone have been put in place around the infected premise to limit the risk of the disease spreading.
Defra has published full details of the controls in place.
Suffolk Trading Standards are providing regular updates via their social media channels, Twitter and Facebook, as well as to all their Consumer Champions via email (find out how to sign up here). Officers from the service will be contacting all residential and commercial premises within the 3km zone to establish where poultry are located.
Read the latest advice and information on avian flu in the UK, including actions to reduce the risk of the disease spreading, advice for anyone who keeps poultry or captive birds and details of previous cases.
If you keep poultry you are required to take action to reduce the risk of avian flu spreading.
All poultry keepers – whether commercial farmers or those with a small backyard flock – are currently required by law to house poultry, or otherwise, to keep them separate from wild birds. This is because a Prevention Zone is currently in force across the UK.
For advice and guidance on what to do if you keep poultry or to report a suspicion of disease in animals, call the Defra Rural Services Helpline on 03000 200 301 or read their detailed guidance on avian influenza.
Members of the public should report dead wild birds - such as swans, geese, ducks, gulls or birds of prey - to the Defra helpline on 03459 33 55 77. Defra will then collect some of these birds and test them to help us understand how the disease is distributed geographically and in different types of bird.
Public Health England advises the risk to public health from the virus is very low and the Food Standards Agency is clear that bird flu does not pose a food safety risk for UK consumers.
You can report non-compliance of the housing and separation requirements to Trading Standards on 0808 223 1133.