The season's first case of the highly pathogenic bird flu has been confirmed at a poultry farm in the town of Atsuma, Hokkaido, the prefectural government said Thursday.
The report is the country's earliest confirmed bird flu case at a domestic poultry farm in over two decades.
The prefectural government plans to cull about 19,000 chickens raised at the farm in Atsuma. It banned the transport of about 710,000 chickens raised at five farms within 10 kilometers of the affected facility.
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