WOAH: 20 poultry outbreaks and 467,000 birds lost in September as the new HPAI season opens

Twenty HPAI outbreaks in poultry and about 467,458 birds dead or culled were reported worldwide in September 2026, and the seasonal wave that closed on 30 September recorded 1,646 poultry outbreaks in 47 countries, the highest of the three seasons compared in the report, as the Northern Hemisphere enters a new risk period.

The World Organisation for Animal Health's HPAI Situation Report 87, covering September 2026 and published in October 2026, counts 20 outbreaks in poultry and 30 outbreaks in non-poultry birds across 13 countries and territories during the month, plus one new outbreak in a mammal, an Arctic fox in Norway.

For the full wave from 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026, WOAH records 1,646 poultry outbreaks in 47 countries and territories, against 1,431 in 51 countries in the previous wave and 851 in 39 countries the year before. Outbreaks in wild birds reached 7,831 across 61 countries, well above the 1,926 and 1,076 of the two previous seasons. Poultry outbreaks peaked in November 2025 and have trended down in the Northern Hemisphere since, in line with normal seasonality.

• What decides access: suspensions follow zone status and plant approvals rather than the national flag, so a regional outbreak does not automatically close a whole origin.
• Documentation is the constraint: veterinary health certificates have to name the disease and the zone in the terms the destination market requires.
• Watch the next three months: the Northern Hemisphere season runs from October, and the last two waves peaked in November and December.
• WOAH's own advice: keep surveillance and farm biosecurity in place, report outbreaks promptly and avoid unjustified trade restrictions.

Disease pressure of this kind makes plant-level paperwork the deciding factor at the border. Our frozen poultry comes from GACC-registered plants with halal and HACCP certification; halal, veterinary health and certificate of origin are issued against the rules of the destination market, and we can clear cargo into Dubai or arrange onward movement to African and Central Asian buyers. Specifications and availability at info@naufoodgroup.com.

Source: World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza Situation Report 87, period covered September 2026, data as of 30 September 2026.