Australian outbreak of H5N1 bird flu surpasses 200 cases
Sydney, Aug 8 (IANS/GURPUNEET SIDHU) The number of H5N1 bird flu cases in Australia on Saturday surpassed 200 as the southeastern state of Victoria introduced new measures to stop the deadly strain from spreading to poultry.
The federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) said in an update that there had been 203 confirmed or presumed positive cases of the H5N1 strain in Australia as of Saturday.
The number of confirmed cases in Australia has increased by 290 per cent so far in August from 52 at the end of July.
Of the total cases, 147 have been detected in South Australia (SA), including 28 new cases that were confirmed on Saturday.
The DAFF said all 28 new cases in SA were in wild seabirds.
Victoria has had the second-most cases of any Australian state with 43, including 36 birds that were confirmed on Thursday and Friday after being found in the state’s west near the border with SA.
The Victorian government on Friday announced that poultry producers along the state’s south coast, including in Melbourne, with a flock of at least 50 birds, will be required to house them indoors for an initial period of 14 days.
Victorian Agriculture Minister Michaela Settle said the government hopes the precautionary measure will prevent the spread of the H5N1 strain.
Australian Chief Veterinary Officer Beth Cookson said in a statement on Tuesday night that new confirmed detections of the H5N1 strain in South Australia (SA) and Victoria have taken the national total number of cases to 102, 81 of which have been in SA.
Cookson said that there have been no detections in Australia’s agricultural system and the risk to human health remains low.
Speaking on ABC radio separately on Tuesday, Environment and Water Minister Murray Watt said that Australia is likely to see more mass mortality events.
The federal government on Monday confirmed the Australian continent’s first mass mortality event from the H5N1 strain in a flock of greater crested terns that were found on an island off the SA coast.
The H5N1 strain killed an estimated 30,000 sea lions in South America within six months in 2022 and killed an estimated 13,359 southern elephant seal pups on Australia’s Heard Island in the Southern Ocean between August 2025 and January 2026.
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