Oct 1st, 2025
3 mins
During the month of September, following successful completion of disease control activities, several protection zones across Great Britain have now ended and surveillance zones have been revoked.
The risk of HPAI H5 in wild birds in Great Britain is still however assessed as high (event occurs very often).
The risk of poultry exposure to HPAI H5 in Great Britain is assessed as:
- medium (event occurs regularly) (with medium uncertainty) where there is suboptimal or poor biosecurity
- low (event is rare but does occur) (with low uncertainty) where stringent biosecurity is consistently applied at all times
Details of the evidence that supported these decisions can be found here:
- risk and outbreak assessments
- outbreak epidemiology reports
- weekly reports of findings of bird flu in wild birds in Great Britain
- findings of bird flu in non-avian wildlife
- findings of bird flu in captive mammals
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) advise that bird flu is primarily a disease of birds and the risk to the general public’s health is very low.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has said bird flu poses a very low food safety risk for UK consumers. Properly cooked poultry and poultry products, including eggs, are safe to eat.
Regular updates on the latest situation can be found here
