On March 18, local time, the Argentine National Bureau of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Quality Inspection and Quarantine announced that since the country found a confirmed case of highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5) on the 15th of last month, the local official epidemic prevention department has spread the virus in 11 provinces across the country. 59 confirmed cases and more than 300 suspected cases of infection were detected. Among the confirmed cases, 49 were free-range poultry raised by farmers, 6 were from large-scale commercial poultry farms, and the remaining 4 were wild birds. More than 700,000 poultry raised in the 6 breeding farms with infected cases have all been culled.

It is reported that in order to prevent the spread of the epidemic, in addition to culling poultry, the Argentine Ministry of Agriculture and relevant animal epidemic prevention departments have also delineated a 10-kilometer quarantine area around the site where the confirmed case of bird flu was found, and pushed forward in this area in a carpet manner. At the same time, further strengthen the transportation control between cities and provinces in Argentina, as well as the border epidemic prevention control with Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay and other border countries.