KIGALI, Rwanda

The Livestock Ministry of the Ivory Coast said an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu had been identified in the country, the latest of several West African nations to declare the outbreak, local media reported on Thursday.

Testing confirmed the presence of the virus after a large number of poultry birds started dying in the Grand Bassam commune on July 20, according to a report by a local newspaper The Abidjan.

“Ivory Coast has identified an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu near the commercial capital Abidjan and has taken steps to curb its spread,” the report said, quoting the Livestock Ministry.

It said the movement of poultry had been limited within the Grand Bassam area, which is about 42 kilometers (26 miles) outside Abidjan, and poultry imports from other infected countries were suspended.

Without revealing the figures, the ministry said birds have been culled in the vicinity of the outbreak.

Besides the Ivory Coast, which last declared avian flu outbreaks in 2006 and 2015, Togo and Ghana reportedly culled thousands of birds after detecting cases in June and July.

Niger, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Mauritania, and Senegal have also this year reported the detection of the virus. The H5N1 virus can infect several types of birds, mostly in farmed poultry, such as chickens, geese, turkeys, and ducks.