THE Scottish Government has confirmed another outbreak of avian flu in Scotland.

The latest incident of the virus has been found on a farm near Inverurie in Aberdeenshire.

However, the premises was deemed a “special category premises” due its non-commercial nature and, based on a veterinary risk assessment, no new disease control zones were applied.

The outbreak follows similar incidents across Gretna, Moffat, Arbroath, and Annan since the beginning of November 2021.

The Scottish Government said that there have been recent findings of dead wild birds linked to the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in a variety of species across the country.

Such deaths have been identified at locations across Aberdeenshire, Angus, Dumfries and Galloway, Falkirk, Fife, Highland, Midlothian, Perth and Kinross, and South Lanarkshire.

A number of cases of avian flu have also been identified across England and Wales. It was announced on January 22 that all birds at one site near Crewe, Cheshire would be humanely culled after a positive case was found on the premises.

The news comes just one day after avian flu restriction zones at three locations in Dumfries and Galloway were lifted.

Scotland's chief veterinary officer Sheila Voas said at the time that she wanted to stress: “This does not mean that avian influenza (AI) has gone away, in fact the risk from AI remains unchanged."

Ms Voas said the UK was dealing with its "worst outbreak ever".

She called for people to maintain good practices to protect their birds, including keeping them separate from wild birds and their droppings, limiting access to poultry premises, and ensuring to keep out rodents and potentially contaminated rain water.

How did bird flu get here and what are the risks?

UK Environment Secretary George Eustice has said that every year the UK faces a seasonal risk in incursion of avian influenza associated with migratory wild birds.

However, he said that this year the country is now seeing the “largest-ever outbreak in the UK of avian influenza”.

The risk to human health from the virus is very low and food standards bodies advise that avian influenzas pose a very low food safety risk for UK consumers, Defra said.

People are advised not to touch or pick up any dead or sick birds that they find and instead report them to the relevant helpline.

Defra [Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs] said there is no impact on the consumption of properly cooked poultry products including eggs.