7.75M birds culled as Japan reports record bird flu cases

Japan has reported record-high cases of bird flu across 23 provinces, with authorities culling around 7.75 million birds until Tuesday this season, officials said.

The country's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said the bird flu cases have risen to 54 after new infections were recorded in Chiba and Fukuoka provinces.

This is the highest number of bird flu cases this season, which have reportedly spread due to migratory birds.

Earlier, Japan had reported 52 cases of bird flu in 18 provinces between November 2020 and March 2021. It had led to the "culling of roughly 9.9 million chickens, an all-time high," Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported.

"There is no possibility of people contracting bird flu from eating chicken or eggs," said the ministry.

Meanwhile, Japan reported record 7,688 deaths due to COVID-19 in December, higher than recorded last time in August last year when 7,329 people died of the infection, first reported in December 2019.

Japan has recorded 29.4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 until Monday evening, including 57,944 deaths.