Around 600,000 chickens in Pampanga province, north of Manila, will be culled to help prevent the spread of the H5 avian flu virus, Secretary Emmanuel Piñol of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Wednesday.

“That is a welcome development to us [at the Department of Agriculture] because, according to our experts, if we also depopulate the farms in the seven-kilometer radius that would serve as a buffer zone at ground zero, which means if the periphery is clean, the chances of the virus spreading outside the area will be lessened,” Piñol told reporters in a news briefing.