California has declared a state of emergency over bird flu as the disease threatens to become a pandemic.
It comes hours after the CDC revealed a person in Louisiana had been hospitalized with a severe case of bird flu for the first time.
Governor Gavin Newsom made the order today, saying the emergency was to ‘streamline and expedite’ the state’s response to bird flu.
California has recorded just over half of the 61 bird flu cases detected in the US so far, at 33 out of the 61 recorded infections, which were mostly among dairy farm workers.
Wastewater surveillance in the state also now shows that the bird flu virus is being routinely detected.
This is a breaking news story. It is being updated.
