Bird flu found at Christmas turkey farm in East Midlands

A strain of bird flu has been found on a turkey farm in the East Midlands - just days before Christmas.
The government says it does not expect turkey supplies to be affected.The government says it does not expect turkey supplies to be affected.
The government says it does not expect turkey supplies to be affected.

Most of the 5,000 birds at the farm - which is in Louth in Lincolnshire - had already died but the remainder will now be culled.

The farm has had a 3km protection zone created around it in order to prevent the disease from spreading.

A government spokesperson said: “The advice is that the risk to public health from the virus is very low.”

“There is not anticipated to be any impact on the supplies of turkeys or other birds over Christmas.”

The outbreak is the first in the UK since July 2015 and comes on the back of a number of other cases in mainland Europe in recent weeks.