Nine farms added to avian flu quarantine in Fraser Valley

Thirty-six poultry operations across the Fraser Valley are now under quarantine after inspectors sealed off nine more operations to try to contain an avian flu outbreak in the region.

The disease has been confirmed on only one farm so far although testing and monitoring continue.

On Sunday, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency quarantined the nine new farms because they received products or equipment from the affected facility.

Seven of the newly quarantined farms are outside the three-kilometre restricted zone established as soon as avian flu was suspected at the first farm.

About 60,000 turkeys on the E & H Farms property in Abbotsford were destroyed last week after testing confirmed an H5 strain of the avian influenza virus had infected birds in one of two operations on the site.