“What we know about this particular strain of avian influenza virus is that it is moving around the world with birds as they move.
“And some of these movements can be long-range movements between the northern and southern hemisphere, but some of these movements, like the skua bird, most likely came from Antarctica and went to Western Australia.”
Van Andel said they were working very closely with the poultry industry, the Department of Conservation and the health ministries to mitigate any impacts to New Zealand.
“We can compare with our colleagues internationally how the disease has behaved there, but of course we can’t say for sure what would happen here in New Zealand.”
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