Bird flu found at British duck farm confirmed as H5N8 strain

The strain of bird flu discovered at a duck farm in northern England is the same highly contagious type seen in outbreaks in Germany and the Netherlands.

"The strain has now been confirmed as H5N8, which is a very low risk to human health and no risk to the food chain," the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said in a statement on Tuesday.

Some 6000 ducks are being culled at the breeding farm in east Yorkshire following the confirmation of the outbreak on Sunday, and a 10-kilometre restriction zone has been put up around the site.

News that authorities are dealing with the same subtype of a highly infectious strain of bird flu as seen in continental Europe will increase speculation that the outbreaks are linked.

H5N8 also appears to be similar to a virus that has been infecting birds in China, Japan and South Korea since the beginning of the year, the World Health Organisation said.