France has placed the entire country on high alert for bird flu, as the virus continues to spread throughout Europe, the agricultural ministry announced on Friday.
The action will expand a mandate that chicken flocks be kept indoors, which has been in effect in some places since September.
Some 130 bird flu cases have been confirmed since early August in wild animals or on farms throughout Europe, the ministry said in a statement, adding that three cases were spotted among backyard birds in northeast France.
"As a result, strengthened prevention measures will be implemented to safeguard poultry farms," the ministry said.
The measure to confine flocks indoors, however, will be modified to accommodate production approaches like free-range farming, the ministry stated.
In other parts of Europe, Dutch officials last week ordered commercial farms to isolate all flocks following a discovery of bird flu on a farm.
The French government's efforts would not jeopardize the country's bird flu-free status, which it achieved in early September following a previous bird flu outbreak, officials said.
The government slaughtered almost 3 million birds last winter in its southwestern duck-breeding region to combat the virus' spread from wild birds to poultry flocks.
Since Thursday, all bird keepers have been legally obligated to adhere to stringent biosecurity procedures in order to preserve their flocks.
Meanwhile, a bird flu prevention zone has been established in Britain to halt the virus's spread among poultry and other birds.
On Thursday, a flock of chickens in Dundee, Scotland was destroyed following a bird flu outbreak. Cases were discovered earlier this week in wild birds and poultry in Wrexham, Wales.
Bird flu has been identified in wild birds in a number of locations around the UK.
Bird flu occurs naturally among wild birds and can be spread to poultry and other captive animals during their winter migration to Britain from mainland Europe.
The virus poses a very minimal danger to public health, according to advice released on the Defra website by British health authorities and food standards organizations.
Humans can contract bird flu in extremely rare circumstances if they come into contact with birds infected with the disease, their droppings, or while preparing contaminated poultry for cooking.
