Avian influenza H5N1 mandatory poultry and bird confinement in Belgium, Digi Mart USA News (Belgium): A growing number of avian influenza H5N1 infections have been detected in poultry farms and wild birds along migration routes to Belgium in recent weeks. In response, Agriculture Minister David Clarinval and the Afsca have decided to make confinement of birds and poultry mandatory again.
Minister Clarinval signed a ministerial decree on Monday to that effect. Once it is published, confinement will be required for all commercial poultry farms and all holders registered in Sanitel, along with feeding and watering poultry and birds indoors or under netting shelters.
Confined feeding will remain mandatory, including for private owners. The use of untreated surface water or rainwater to water poultry and birds will be prohibited, the minister said.
Authorities recommend that all poultry and bird holders apply these measures immediately, pending publication of the ministerial decree. No general confinement obligation is planned for birds kept by private individuals, although the Afsca strongly recommends protecting them preventively by preventing any contact with wild birds.
Nine infection cases have recently been detected in wild birds across the country. The Afsca expects the unfavorable situation to persist in the coming months and even worsen.
Walkers who notice a dead bird are asked not to touch it and to report it to the free number 0800/99.777.
