Health chiefs carrying out emergency drills for if bird flu jumps to humans

Emergency drills over what will happen if the bird flu jumps to humans are being carried out by health chiefs, according to Whitehall officials. 

The highly pathogenic Avian H5N1 outbreaks have caused 3.8 million birds to be culled in the UK this year – nearly a third of the population in the UK.   

The virus is moving quickly among farmed and wild birds but has not yet mutated to be able to spread between humans, although those working with the birds have caught the disease.  

Chief veterinary officer Dr Christine Middlemiss said frequent exercises with the UK Health Security Agency are taking place to stop the disease spreading. 

Emergency drills over what will happen if the bird flu jumps to humans are being carried out by health chiefs, according to Whitehall officials. Pictured: Turkeys at a farm in Knutsford 

These include simulations, testing the virus for new mutations at each farm and offering antivirals to workers as a preventative measure.  

Dr Middlemiss said: ‘Because this is a zoonotic disease, it has the potential to infect people.

‘A teaspoon full of infected bird droppings will have thousands and thousands of infected viral doses in it.

‘It takes a really small amount of virus to create an outbreak.’

The virus’s ‘R’ rate of infection can reach 100 – meaning one bird can pass it on to 100 others, reported The Telegraph. 

Farmer Steve Childerhouse, 51, told of his heartbreak at being forced to cull his entire flock of 10,000 turkeys destined for UK Christmas dinner tables

But Dr Middlemiss said the risk to the general population remains ‘low’ and that the avian flu pandemic does not pose a threat to the UK’s food security.   

A compulsory ‘housing order’ – essentially a lockdown – for farmed birds will come into force on Monday. 

A ‘prevention zone’ was declared on October 17 as the country continued to battle the outbreak, meaning bird keepers must have strict biosecurity measures to safeguard flocks. 

The flu also means families could be facing a turkey crisis come Christmas Day.  

Farmer Steve Childerhouse, 51, of Whews Farm in Norfolk, previously told of his heartbreak at being forced to cull his entire flock of 10,000 turkeys destined for Christmas dinner tables.