SOFIA, March 28 (Xinhua) -- The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency reported on Monday an outbreak of the highly pathogenic bird flu at a farm some 170 km southeast of the capital Sofia.

       The agency said that all measures have been taken to tackle the outbreak. The authorities have been forced to slaughter the flock at the farm with 177,440 laying hens near the town of Asenovgrad.

       Since 2019, this has been the third bird flu outbreak reported at a farm belonging to the same owner, the agency said.