BUDAPEST (Reuters) - The outbreak of avian influenza among Hungarian geese last week was certainly the deadly H5N1 type, the farm minister was quoted as saying, but he added that the UK lab testing the samples had not confirmed it yet.

Hungarian officials already said last week they suspected the H5N1 strain had infected the geese in the southeast of Hungary because that type had infected wild birds in Hungary and poultry elsewhere in the region, with Romania worst hit.

"It can be taken as certain that the H5N1 type of bird flu infected the poultry stock in Bacs-Kiskun county," Agriculture Minister Jozsef Graf was quoted as saying by business daily Vilaggazdasag.

He said the laboratory results from the UK would arrive to Budapest later on Wednesday or Thursday.

Hungary has already slaughtered over 300,000 poultry, mainly ducks and geese in the affected area, and it may cull up to half a million in total, the ministry said earlier this week.

Graf said in another interview on public television on Wednesday that Hungary´s farmers would be unable to keep their ducks and geese indoors to isolate them from wild birds due to outdated technology.

The technology they are using is totally obsolete, it is basically a foil tent, and just a few planks stop the birds from going out into the open," Graf said. "We must change the technology."