Image copyright Thinkstock Image caption Birds on the farm where the outbreak has occurred are being humanely slaughtered

The department of agriculture in Northern Ireland has suspended a general licence for the importation of poultry products and live birds from Britain after an outbreak of avian flu.

Those wishing to bring poultry products or live birds into Northern Ireland must now apply for a specific licence.

The precautionary measure was announced after avian flu was confirmed on an egg production farm in Lancashire.

The H7N7 strain of the disease has been found on the farm.

It can infect humans but has only rarely caused severe illness.

Public Health England has said the risk to human health is very low.

The Food Standards Agency has said there is no food safety risk.

Biosecurity

Restrictions have been put in place around the farm and the birds are being humanely slaughtered.

The agriculture minister Michelle O'Neill said her staff had been in contact with the Northern Ireland poultry industry to advise them of the situation and call for increased vigilance.

"While the situation will be kept under review, I would encourage bird-keepers, as a precaution, to revisit their own biosecurity," she said.

Northern Ireland's chief vet Robert Huey said he had been liaising with his counterparts in England and his officials would assess the risk to establish whether other measures might be needed.

"We have informed our counterparts in the south [Republic of Ireland] of the situation and will continue to work closely with them to ensure that we apply consistent and proportionate measures to protect the island of Ireland," he said.