New Zealand said on Monday that it had suspended all poultry exports after detecting a highly pathogenic variant of avian influenza at a poultry farm on the South Island. Tests confirmed the H7N6 subtype of bird flu at a rural chicken farm in the Otago region,

To try to prevent the further spread of the virus, around 80,000 layer hens across two sheds will be humanely culled using CO2 gas.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza has been detected at a poultry farm in New Zealand's South Island, authorities said on Monday (Dec 2), the first time the island nation has reported a highly pathogenic variant of avian influenza.