Europe and UK hit by ‘unprecedented’ number of bird flu cases this summer

A grey crane, killed by bird flu, in Israel’s Hula valley. It is one of 2,000 cranes to die in Israel in the past year as avian flu has become endemic in wild birds. Photograph: Jalaa Marey/AFP/Getty

The UK and continental Europe have been hit by an “unprecedented” number of cases of avian flu this summer, with 47.7m birds having been culled since last autumn, according to new figures.

Poultry producers from as far north as Norway’s Svalbard islands to southern Portugal have together reported almost 2,500 outbreaks of the disease since last year.