Mozambican authorities have announced that 45 000 hens have been slaughtered, burnt and buried in southern Mozambique, including in the capital Maputo, to prevent the spread of bird flu.
The birds had been imported from South Africa, and the Mozambique outbreak has spread to the country’s district of Morrumbene in the southern Inhambane province. Authorities are trying to contain it as fears grow that it could spread countrywide.
As in South Africa, the outbreak has led to a shortage of eggs and chickens, and a sharp rise in prices in recent days.
The average price of chicken has nearly doubled from 350 Mozambican metical ($5; £4) to 600, while the price of a dozen eggs has shot up from 100 to 150 metical.
The 45 000 incinerated hens had been in contact with chickens infected by bird flu in South Africa, said Mozambique's national director of livestock development, Américo da Conceição.
The hens had been brought to Mozambique to lay eggs.
South Africa has been grappling with one of its worst bird flu outbreaks, forcing poultry farmers to kill seven million egg-laying hens, which amounts to 20-30% of the country's entire stock, according to the South African Poultry Association.
Da Conceição said that Mozambique had banned the importation of chickens and their derivatives from South Africa, including eggs and chicken feed.
The government has also stopped the circulation of chickens, eggs and animal feed from Morrumbene, the epicentre of the outbreak, to other parts of Mozambique.
