CHICAGO, (Reuters) – Officials said Monday that a Kentucky commercial poultry flock tested positive for highly fatal bird flu. This is escalating the threat to America’s poultry industry.

After buyers from China and Korea reduced purchases of poultry products last week because of an outbreak at a Indiana turkey farm, infections in chickens raised to be meat-producing birds are expected to cause more U.S. export restrictions.

According to Kentucky officials, the chickens that were being raised in Fulton County near Tennessee’s border had the same virus strain H5N1 of highly pathogenic Avian Flu as those in Indiana.

The final laboratory confirmation is still to be made for another possible outbreak of turkey poisoning in Webster County Kentucky.

State officials announced that infected birds will be removed from the environment and will not be allowed into the food supply.

Katie Flynn (Kentucky’s state veterinarian) stated that they are doing everything possible to stop the virus spreading to other poultry farms.

In Kentucky and Tennessee, federal and state authorities test backyard chicken flocks.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it was also found in Fauquier county, Virginia in backyard birds that had been already culled. The agency stated that the cases are not a concern for public health.

After dozens of flu-positive individuals were confirmed along the East Coast, it is believed that wild birds may be transmitting the virus to others.

According to U.S. government, the United States is both the largest poultry producer and the second-largest exporter in the world. Kentucky claimed it was the seventh-largest producer of chicken-meat.

Markets are being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is because poultry stocks have been reduced due to increased demand and labour shortages in the meat industry. According to government data, U.S. poultry supplies fell 14% compared with a year ago by December 31, while Turkey inventories dropped 23%.