the level of risk lowered from “high” to “moderate” in France

France was at risk level “pupil” avian flu since the beginning of November 2022. According to an order dated April 26 published on Saturday April 29 in the Official Journal, the level of risk drops to Sunday “moderate”. For this reason, reinforced biosecurity measures, in particular the confinement of poultry and systematic tests if an outbreak is detected less than 20 km from a farm, will no longer be compulsory throughout the territory, but only in areas at risk.

To justify this decision, the decree mentions “the reduction in the incidence of cases of avian influenza in wild birds and the end of upward migration in metropolitan France”as well as “the decrease in the number of cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza in neighboring countries”.

No new cases recorded since March 14

Since March 2023, France has experienced a sharp slowdown in the increase in the number of outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) on its territory. This stabilized at 315 households in mid-March and has since seen no further increase, the Ministry of Agriculture announced on Friday. Since March 14, no case has been identified in French farms, after the detection of a last outbreak in the Center-Val-de-Loire.

As of April 19, the authorities had thus announced a first reduction in the measures! in Pays de la Loire, Brittany and Deux-Sèvres, particularly affected areas, the samples to be taken from waterfowl (ducks and geese) to detect the disease have been halved. Finally, in unscathed areas, fragile poultry were allowed to go out in a short outdoor route, protected from wild birds by nets and fences, “if criteria of high outside temperatures on several successive days are observed”.

In 2021-2022, the epizootic led to the slaughter of 22 million poultry in France.