Japan Ministry Holds Emergency Meeting on Bird Flu

Tokyo, Nov. 21 (Jiji Press)--Japan’s agriculture ministry held an emergency online meeting with officials from prefectural governments across the country on Thursday, in response to the ongoing spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the country.

The ministry urged them to step up sanitary controls to prevent the disease from spreading further.

The disease “could have a huge impact on egg supplies and prices, and thus on people’s diets,” agriculture minister Taku Eto said at the beginning of the meeting. “I would like you to respond with a sense of urgency.”

In addition to conventional countermeasures, the ministry called for measures such as sprinkling water during ventilation of poultry houses to prevent the virus from entering with dust. It also requested the postponement of non-urgent facility construction to prevent visitors from bringing in the virus.

This season, a total of 10 bird flu outbreaks have been confirmed in eight prefectures as of noon Thursday, starting with one in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido on Oct. 17. Cases are increasing at a pace comparable to that of 2022, when a record number of cases occurred.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]