Last updated 07 June 2024 10:10am

We are responding to the detection of avian influenza at 5 Victorian poultry farms.

Four infected properties near Meredith are confirmed to have the high pathogenicity H7N3 strain of avian influenza, and the infected property near Terang is confirmed to have the high pathogenicity H7N9 strain.

Four of the infected properties are located in the Restricted and Control Areas in Meredith and Lethbridge, in the Golden Plains Shire and one is in the Corangamite Shire where movement restrictions were already in place.

All properties have been placed in quarantine and all poultry will be safely disposed of. The sites will be cleaned and cleared of the infection.

The latest detection is not unexpected. It shows that Agriculture Victoria’s reasonable and risk-based Restricted and Control Areas and comprehensive and ongoing surveillance activities are working as they should to pick up spread of the disease.