CANBERRA: Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said laboratory tests conducted by Australia’s national science agency confirmed the presence of the H5 virus in a group of sick and dead seabirds found near Cape Jaffa in South Australia.
“This is the first confirmed case of a mass die-off, and it is clearly a very worrying development,” Collins told reporters in Canberra.
She warned that the outbreak is expected to spread further, saying, “Australians should expect wider transmission and greater numbers of wildlife to be affected.”
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Australia has recorded 74 cases of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus since the outbreak was first detected in June.
