European HPAI sweep — week to 7 October 2026

Published on : 7 Oct 2026

Window covered: 00:00 UTC Thursday 1 October to 08:17 UTC Wednesday 7 October 2026.

Defra has raised the risk of avian influenza incursion in wild birds in Great Britain from low to medium, after 35 highly pathogenic H5 events were notified across Europe between 7 August and 30 September. Twenty-nine of those were in wild birds and six were in commercial poultry, with no outbreaks at all recorded in non-commercial poultry over the period. The risk to poultry is held at very low where biosecurity is stringent, and at low where biosecurity is suboptimal, although the uncertainty attached to that second figure has been raised from low to medium.

France accounted for three of the six commercial poultry outbreaks and Bulgaria for two. Norway recorded the most detections of any country at 13, mostly in greylag geese, with the Netherlands on six wild bird cases, and further detections in Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Germany and Portugal. The virus was predominantly H5N1, with two H5Nx cases in Iceland. European reporting had fallen from around ten events a week in July to around five a week through August and September, and Defra attributes the increased risk to the peak of autumn migration through infected regions rather than to any rise in case numbers.

Great Britain lost its disease free status for highly pathogenic avian influenza on 2 October, when HPAI H5N5 was confirmed in commercial backyard poultry at Ness on the Isle of Lewis. A 3km protection zone and a 10km surveillance zone are in place around the premises. It remains the only case of the 2026/27 season, with none in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, and no avian influenza prevention zone or housing order is in force anywhere in Great Britain. Bird numbers and a cull figure have not been published.

Belgium has had two detections this season, both H5N1 and both in kept birds rather than commercial poultry. The first was confirmed on 30 September at a private keeper of ornamental birds at Tongeren-Borgloon in Limburg, and the second on 5 October at a hobby keeper in Balen, in the province of Antwerp, where more than 50 birds were held. Each has a 3km protection zone and a 10km surveillance zone. The Balen surveillance zone crosses into Limburg and takes in parts of Mol, Dessel, Lommel, Leopoldsburg and Tessenderlo-Ham, and around ten professional poultry holdings fall within it. Within 10km all poultry must be shielded from wild birds, feed and water given under cover, movements of birds and eggs in and out of the zone prohibited, and markets, shows and gatherings banned, whilst within 3km the shielding requirement extends to all species of bird. The Balen infection appears to have been traced by the FAVV as a contact of the Tongeren-Borgloon case, which would mean the virus has moved between holdings around 45km apart, although that has been reported by the Flemish poultry trade press rather than confirmed by the agency itself. Because both infections were found at hobby holdings, Belgium does not for the present lose its recognised disease free status. No cull figures have been published for either case.

Germany notified two captive bird cases on 29 September, both H5N1, one of them a smew, at Cologne Zoo and at a small holding at Wilhelmshaven in Lower Saxony keeping ducks, turkeys and budgerigars. Elsewhere in the same week there was a single wild bird case in Denmark on 25 September in a greylag goose, one in the Netherlands at Almere on 28 September, and three in Norway on 29 September in pink-footed and greylag geese. No poultry outbreaks were recorded anywhere in the EU reporting area in that week.

Sources

• High pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) in Great Britain and Europe — Defra and APHA, 30 September 2026

• Bird flu (avian influenza): latest situation in England — GOV.UK, 3 October 2026

• Avian influenza (bird flu) outbreaks — gov.scot, 2 October 2026

• ADIS outbreaks weekly report, 24–30 September 2026 — European Commission

• Baalse vogelhouderij getroffen door vogelgriep — Pluimvee.be, 5 October 2026

• Opnieuw vogelgriep bij dieren Belgische hobbyhouder vlak over grens — Nieuwe Oogst, 6 October 2026

• Vogelgriep in Balen: maatregelen gelden ook in delen van Mol — Gemeente Mol, 6 October 2026