As of March 1, the spokesman said, bird flu had hit seven regions in the Southern Federal District: the republics of Kabardino-Balkaria, Daghestan, Chechnya, Kalmykia and Adygea, and the Krasnodar and Stavropol territories.
A spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry said headquarters of experts had been set up in each region to prevent the spread of the virus, and stricter control had been imposed over people arriving to Russia from neighboring countries. All hospitals and veterinary services are on high alert, he added.
The ministry said earlier that about half a million birds died of bird flu in February in southern Russia.
"The third wave of the disease swept the country starting February 3 and is still ongoing," a ministry spokesman said. "About 500,000 birds have died from a virus that lab research identified as bird flu since the pandemic broke out, and more than 215,000 birds have been culled."
Over 1.3 million birds have died or been slaughtered in three outbreaks of bird flu since July 2005, or over 44,000 every day, the ministry said. This includes more than 416,000 birds, or about 17,500 every day, that died from the virus.
