The Chinese Government has ordered a cull of chickens in Shaoyang city after an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in Hunan province.

As a pre-emptive measure, China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said that it has culled around 18,000 chickens. The comes after it identified H5N1 bird flu in Shaoyang city.

According to a statement released by the ministry, it found avian influenza among chickens on a local farm. The authorities have ordered a cull of 4,500 out of 7,850 chickens present at the poultry farm.

The poultry farm is located in Hunan that is close to Hubei, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak. The coronavirus was first identified at Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan.

However, the statement released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs did not give any information about when the outbreak occurred or when the cull took place.

This outbreak of H5N1 bird flu comes while the country is attempting to contain the spread of coronavirus. Coronavirus has killed more than 300 people in the country.

According to data released by the World Health Organization (WHO), the H5N1 avian flu has killed 455 people since 2003.

WHO said: “Almost all cases of H5N1 infection in people have been associated with close contact with infected live or dead birds, or H5N1-contaminated environments.

“The virus does not infect humans easily, and spread from person to person appears to be unusual. There is no evidence that the disease can be spread to people through properly prepared and thoroughly cooked food.”

Recently, WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak as a global health emergency.