Concerns grow over avian flu in France

France's Agriculture Ministry has raised the country's risk level for avian flu from moderate to high after new cases of the highly contagious virus were detected.

The "high" risk level implies that all poultry should be kept inside on farms and additional security measures taken to avoid a spread of the disease.

Outbreaks have already been reported in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, and the first case in France was confirmed on a farm in the northwest Brittany region last week.