Taiwan's ongoing battle with avian flu has led to the slaughter of around 160,000 birds, according to the AFP.
This figure is expected to increase as Taiwan's Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine reported on Tuesday that 47 more farms may have been infected by the disease.
If an outbreak is confirmed on the additional farms, then a total of 340,000 more birds may be killed as part of the Taiwan government's quarantine procedure.
"We have been adopting stringent measures so that we can limit the further spread of the outbreak as soon as possible," Chang Su-san, the head of the bureau said during a media conference on Wednesday.
As part of these new strict measures, government authorities have imposed a ban on transporting birds from farms suspected of being hit by the epidemic.
In addition, farmers who are caught improperly handling infected birds could face a fine of up to one million Taiwanese dollars, which is roughly equivalent to $31,250.
Officials explained that the current epidemic is brought about by the H5N2 and H5N8 avian flu strains. Experts said that the disease may have originated from other countries and entered Taiwan through migratory birds.
As a serious precautionary step, farmers have been told fortify their nets and fences to prevent wild birds from getting near their poultry.
Taiwan's authorities noted that this could be the worst case of avian flu outbreak the country has faced in years. The last time the country experienced an epidemic of this magnitude was in 2004. During that time, the disease caused by the H5N2 strain resulted in the killing of over 467,000 birds.
Aside from Taiwan, other Asian countries are also struggling to combat the avian flu outbreak which began in January of last year.
As part of the countries' quarantine procedures, around 120,000 birds have already been killed in Japan and almost 600,000 in South Korea, the Genetic Literacy Project reported.
