Environment Secretary Hilary Benn today repated warnings to poultry farmers to watch out for any sign of bird flu following yesterday's confirmed outbreak on an Oxfordshire farm.

Mr Benn, in a statement to Parliament published today, said: "I would stress the need for poultry keepers to be extremely vigilant, practice the highest levels of biosecurity and report any suspicions of disease to their local Animal Health Office immediately."

Mr Benn made his statement as thousands of chickens were due to be slaughtered at the infected Eastwood Farm, between Shenington and Shutford, near Banbury.

Defra veterinary officers have suspended the movement of all poultry in the area and a temporary control zone with a 3km inner zone and a 10km outer zone have been established around the premises.

The minister said the Government was "urgently considering" whether any wider measures may be needed.

The Chief Veterinary Officer Nigel Gibbens said yesterday preliminary tests on chickens at a premises were positive for the H7 strain of bird flu. The tests followed deaths in the chicken-laying flock and a reduction in egg production.

Mr Benn stressed that avian influenza was "largely" a disease of birds, and said the virus did "not easily cross from birds to infect humans".