Overview
- Germany’s animal-health institute FLI reports 35 H5N1 outbreaks in commercial flocks since early September and a fast-moving situation with daily new confirmations, pushing the national cull well beyond 500,000 birds.
- Saarland will require all kept birds to be housed from Thursday, bans poultry events, and warns of fines up to €30,000 after confirming one infected wild bird and several additional suspect findings.
- Hamburg will introduce a citywide stall requirement from Friday, citing confirmed and suspected wild-bird cases, and will prohibit exhibitions and markets involving poultry and pigeons.
- Brandenburg has stall rules in nearly all counties, reports roughly 155,000 birds culled in the state, and faces mass die-offs of cranes as FLI confirms H5N1 in about 160 tested wild-bird carcasses nationwide.
- Public-health authorities assess the risk to the general population as very low with no human cases in Germany, while virologist Klaus Stöhr urges pandemic preparedness and industry groups press for a nationwide housing mandate and consideration of vaccination.