Second bird flu outbreak found on Dutch farm

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Dutch officials have detected a second case of bird flu on a southern Netherlands farm, officials said on Thursday (Nov 20).

The latest outbreak was detected in three barns containing 43,000 chickens on a farm at Ter Aar, just east of The Hague, the Dutch food and safety watchdog NVWA said.

The outbreak was of the H5 strain, but "it is not clear whether it was of the highly pathogenic variety or not," added the Dutch economic affairs ministry in a letter sent to parliament on Thursday.

"The earliest results are expected by the end of tomorrow (Friday)," it said.

The powerful Dutch poultry industry has now been paralysed for a second time this week with a nationwide ban on the transport of all poultry and related products since Thursday.

The ban will last up to 72 hours.

Authorities have also thrown a 10 kilometre cordon around the farm, with four other farms also being tested for avian influenza. The chickens are being destroyed and the farm disinfected, the NVWA added.

The European Commission said it was in "constant contact" with Dutch authorities and was ready to take further action once test results from the birds were through.