Czechia - Bird flu in wild birds and poultry - 2021

[Gert van der Hoek]

Bird flu detected in Czechia after year-long absence

Avian influenza has appeared in the Czech Republic again after a year-long absence. The presence of the H5N8 virus, which is fatal to birds, was first confirmed on Thursday in two dead swans in the region of P?sek in South Bohemia.

Since then, veterinarians have detected an outbreak of the deadly virus at two poultry farms in the region. Speaking after the government’s emergency meeting on Friday, Agriculture Minister Miroslav Toman said more cases are to be expected in the coming days, since the virus has already been confirmed in a number other European states.

[Gert van der Hoek]

The situation with bird flu is bad, says Toman

Note: Toman is Min of Agriculture


On Thursday, the disease was confirmed in the Czech Republic for the first time this year. These were two dead swans in P?sek.


Toman said that the state will try to do its best to prevent the disease from entering the farms. Veterinarians make an inventory of commercial farms in the vicinity of the finding of dead birds, so far they know about two farms.


One of them is in AGPI, where there are 150 thousand laying hens, the other is 20 thousand ducks. Veterinarians do not make an inventory of small farms in the case of a finding in wild birds. Already now, the staff of the State Veterinary Administration (SVS) should control biosafety in commercial operations.