March 7, 2018 / 4:03 PM / in 3 hours

China reports highly pathogenic H5N6, H7N9 bird flu outbreaks: OIE

PARIS (Reuters) - China reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N6 bird flu at a duck farm in the Guangxi province, the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on Wednesday, citing a report from the Chinese agriculture ministry.

The virus killed 23,950 ducks out of a flock of 30,462 ducks, the ministry said. The remaining birds were all slaughtered, it said.

In a separate report, China also reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic H7N9 bird flu in a backyard in the Shaanxi province, the OIE said.

The virus killed 810 layers out of a flock of 1,000 birds, it says.

Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide, editing by Bate Felix