Australia’s H5N1 chicken flu instances have crossed 200, with South Australia reporting the very best quantity and Victoria introducing new measures for poultry producers. Authorities mentioned there have been no detections in Australia’s agricultural system and the human well being danger stays low.
Printed Date – 8 August 2026, 01:35 PM
Sydney: The variety of H5N1 chicken flu instances in Australia on Saturday surpassed 200 because the southeastern state of Victoria launched new measures to cease the lethal pressure from spreading to poultry.
The federal Division of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) mentioned in an replace that there had been 203 confirmed or presumed optimistic instances of the H5N1 pressure in Australia as of Saturday.
The variety of confirmed instances in Australia has elevated by 290 per cent to this point in August from 52 on the finish of July.
Of the overall instances, 147 have been detected in South Australia (SA), together with 28 new instances that have been confirmed on Saturday.
The DAFF mentioned all 28 new instances in SA have been in wild seabirds.
Victoria has had the second-most instances of any Australian state with 43, together with 36 birds that have been confirmed on Thursday and Friday after being discovered within the state’s west close to the border with SA.
The Victorian authorities on Friday introduced that poultry producers alongside the state’s south coast, together with in Melbourne, with a flock of no less than 50 birds, might be required to deal with them indoors for an preliminary interval of 14 days.
Victorian Agriculture Minister Michaela Settle mentioned the federal government hopes the precautionary measure will stop the unfold of the H5N1 pressure.
Australian Chief Veterinary Officer Beth Cookson mentioned in a press release on Tuesday evening that new confirmed detections of the H5N1 pressure in South Australia (SA) and Victoria had taken the nationwide complete variety of instances to 102, 81 of which had been in SA.
Cookson mentioned that there had been no detections in Australia’s agricultural system and the chance to human well being remained low.
Talking on ABC radio individually on Tuesday, Atmosphere and Water Minister Murray Watt mentioned that Australia was more likely to see extra mass mortality occasions.
The federal authorities on Monday confirmed the Australian continent’s first mass mortality occasion from the H5N1 pressure in a flock of larger crested terns that have been discovered on an island off the SA coast.
The H5N1 pressure killed an estimated 30,000 sea lions in South America inside six months in 2022 and killed an estimated 13,359 southern elephant seal pups on Australia’s Heard Island within the Southern Ocean between August 2025 and January 2026.
