Taiwan on Saturday began a four-day ban on the killing of chickens, ducks and geese at slaughterhouses across the island, as a bird flu outbreak spreads.

According to the agriculture council, as of 6 p.m. Friday, 414 farms were confirmed infected with various strains of avian flu, including a new type, H5N2, as well as H5N8 and H5N3 that had not been found in Taiwan before.

A total of 605,308 birds have been culled at 276 affected farms.

Chen Bao-ji, head of the agriculture council, said the ban will last until Wednesday noon, during which slaughterhouses will be cleaned and disinfected.

A total of 6 million birds were scheduled to be slaughtered in these four days. A health certificate will be required from Wednesday before they are killed at slaughterhouses.

With a growing demand for the poultry in the run up to Lunar New Year in February, Chen said the authority will try to avoid another ban before the holiday.

The first case in the latest outbreak was confirmed on Jan. 9 when a chicken farm in Pingtung was found to have been hit by the H5N2 virus.

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