Farmers across the UK were put on red alert yesterday after a case of bird flu was confirmed at a farm in north Wales.

Farmers across the UK were put on red alert yesterday after a case of bird flu was confirmed at a farm in north Wales.

Dr Christianne Glossop, chief veterinary officer for Wales, said the strain is H7N2 low pathogenic avian influenza, which is different from the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain currently circulating in Asia.

Thirty chickens were slaughtered yesterday at the smallholding in Corwen, Conwy after 15 Rhode Island Red chickens, bought two weeks earlier, died.

Two people living on the smallholding who have shown flu symptoms are being tested for the virus. A 1km restriction zone has been set up round the farm, preventing birds and bird products being moved in or out of the area.

Everyone entering the site is taking flu drug Tamiflu as a precaution.

Dr Glossop said: "Wales and Great Britain contingency plans have been activated and in line with these the farm has been placed under restrictions.

"We are not yet asking bird keepers within the zone to bring their birds indoors."

She emphasised the need for proper biosecurity measures, adding: "I'd like to think people have learned from foot-and-mouth."

Dr Glossop urged poultry keepers to look out for signs of disease in their birds, and said the source of the outbreak was being investigated.

She said: "As the jigsaw puzzle becomes clearer we may put restraints on holdings in other parts of Britain. We will be monitoring the situation on an ongoing basis."

She added that all measures in Wales's contingency plan for bird flu were being put in place, and that the Welsh Assembly was working with the Scottish Executive and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Executive said: "We are continually in talks with our counterparts down south and are talking about a range of issues."

Jim McLaren, president of the National Farmers' Union in Scotland, said: "This case in Wales is a low pathogenic strain of bird flu but nevertheless highlights the ongoing need within the industry to maintain vigilance with regard to biosecurity.

"We remain confident that officials are undertaking all the measures and precautions necessary in the situation.

"Scotland has every reason to remain calm and NFU Scotland is keen to ensure that the issue is not blown out of proportion to cause unnecessary fear."

The H5N1 virus was detected in April 2006 for the first time in the UK in a swan in Cellardyke, Fife, although tests later revealed it had come from abroad.

In February this year nearly 160,000 birds on a Bernard Matthews turkey farm in Suffolk were slaughtered after an outbreak of the virus.