Taiwan is stepping up efforts to battle bird flu outbreaks through various measures in a bid to prevent poultry-to-human transmission of the virus.
Since discovering its first case of H5N6 in Hualien county on February 2, the H5N2, H5N6 and H5N8 strains of bird flu have spread to six cities and counties in Taiwan, prompting the killing of 210,000 chickens.
In a case of H7N9 avian infection, detected in a 69-year-old Taiwanese man who returned from China last month, it was found the virus had mutated and built up a resistance to antiviral drugs, according to the Centre for Disease Control.
"The mutated virus might be more lethal to birds, so disease prevention must be enhanced to prevent cases being imported from China," said CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo.
Taiwan's Council of Agriculture has imposed a week-long ban on transporting slaughtered poultry.
If a farm reports sick poultry, the council will help it slaughter all the poultry and compensate the farm for the loss.
If a breeder fails to report sick poultry, the breeder will be fined.
