New Zealand said on Monday that it had suspended all poultry exports after detecting a highly pathogenic variant of avian influenza at a poultry farm on the South Island. Tests confirmed the H7N6 subtype of bird flu at a rural chicken farm in the Otago region,

To try to prevent the further spread of the virus, around 80,000 layer hens across two sheds will be humanely culled using CO2 gas.

New Zealand officials are investigating a second egg farm in the southern region of Otago for potential cases of bird flu.