23,000 chickens culled on Yunlin farm over avian flu.

Taipei, Jan. 1 (CNA) Over 23,000 chickens on a farm in Yunlin County were culled Wednesday after confirmation a day earlier of an avian flu breakout there, according to the county's Animal and Plant Disease Center.

The center said in a statement that the slaughter was conducted on the farm in Dounan Township after it was confirmed Tuesday that the farm's livestock had been struck by the highly pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza.

On Dec. 28, the farm owner reported to the center that some 600 of his chickens had died, the center said.

In 2019, a total of 53 poultry farms in the county were confirmed to have been hit by avian flu, with 289,000 birds culled, compared with 446,000 on 62 local farms in 2018, according to center data.

The center noted that the March-July and November-December periods are the peak seasons in Taiwan for avian flu, a virus that affects chickens, ducks, geese and turkey on farms mostly in central and southern Taiwan.