All bird keepers must keep their flocks indoors from Monday by law - as the UK grapples with its biggest ever outbreak of avian flu.

With the national risk of influenza in wild birds raised to very high - and fears that the spread could soon hit Christmas turkeys - the government is bringing in new strict rules from November 7 regardless of whether people in England have just a few birds or poultry or they keep thousands of animals.

The UK's chief veterinary officer Christine Middlemiss is urging all those with captive birds to spend the next week preparing for the strict new rules, including consulting their own private vet and expanding housing areas to make them bigger where it is necessary before they need to bring their flocks inside.

She said: "We are now facing this year, the largest ever outbreak of bird flu and are seeing rapid escalation in the number of cases on commercial farms and in backyard birds across England. The risk of kept birds being exposed to disease has reached a point where it is now necessary for all birds to be housed until further notice.

"Scrupulous biosecurity and separating flocks in all ways, from wild birds remain the best form of defence. Whether you keep just a few birds or thousands, from Monday November 7 onwards you must keep your indoors. This decision has not been taken lightly, but is the best way to protect your birds from this highly infectious disease."

The tough new rules, which are already in place in Suffolk, Norfolk and parts of Essex, will apply to the whole of England from next week.

Evidence shows, says the government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, that housing birds inside reduces the risk of kept animals being infected with bird flu.

However, bringing them indoors alone will not protect flocks and so keepers must continue, says DEFRA, to still follow other enhanced biosecurity measures that includes stringent cleaning, changing clothing and footwear when entering enclosures, disinfecting vehicles and restricting access to flocks to only essential people or workers.

Over the last year, the United Kingdom has faced its largest ever outbreak of avian influenza with over 200 cases confirmed since late October 2021. The introduction of the housing measures comes after the disease was detected at over 70 premises since the beginning of October, as well as multiple reports in wild birds.

While the public health risk is deemed to be very low, there are fears that if bird flu were to reach turkey stocks ahead of Christmas, numbers could be decimated before the festive season - a scenario that the National Farmers' Union has described as 'holy carnage'.

In an interview earlier this month chairman of the NFU Poultry Board James Mottershead explained: "It is a risk.

He added: "If bird flu, for example, gets into turkeys that could cause holy carnage; that could cause real supply chain issues in the run-up to Christmas time. The realities of it are quite severe."