About 5,000 domestic birds have been culled in Russia's Altai territory as of Tuesday because of a bird flu outbreak in some districts, according to an Itar-Tass news agency report.

The forced killing of poultry started from the village of Gryaznovo in Tyumentsevsky district, where 58 domestic birds have died of bird flu on 10 farms in the village on Monday.

The disease also persisted in the village of Pokrovka, Bayevsky district where 65 hens, ducks, geese and turkey cocks have died of the infection among eight farms.

Disinfection has been carried out in both villages while sanitary posts were set up, and all local residents have been vaccinated against the disease, the report said.

Russian specialists said they could not rule out new bird flu spots, as the migration of wildfowl is not over yet.

Russia has so far discovered outbreaks of bird flu in 10 regions, and 19 more are under suspicion, according to Agriculture Ministry officials.

Among the regions affected are southern Siberia's Altai and Omsk regions, the south Urals' Kurgan region, neighboring Chelyabinsk and central Russia's Tambov regions as well as the Tula region south of Moscow, the ITAR-TASS news agency quoted the officials as saying.

Source: Xinhua