More than seven million captive birds have been killed since the nation's worst-ever avian flu outbreak began in October 2021, according to government figures.

Defra says there have been 279 cases in England since the start of the epidemic.

East Anglia became the national epicentre last autumn, with more than 40 cases recorded in October in Norfolk alone.

The pace of the outbreak has slowed since then, with just four Norfolk cases recorded since the start of this year.

But Defra's latest figures show the UK-wide scale of the losses of both captive birds which died of avian influenza, and those that were culled for disease control.

Farming minister Mark Spencer told MPs: "During the current highly-pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 outbreak (October 26, 2021, to January 10, 2023) 7.48m birds have died or been culled for avian influenza disease control purposes, including 4.59m chickens, 1.79m turkeys, 980,000 ducks, 48,000 geese, 31,000 quail, 35,000 gamebirds and 7,000 other captive birds."

The statistics were released in response to a written parliamentary question from Labour's shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon.

Mr McMahon said the figures "show the Conservatives have failed to grip this crisis".

"The secretary of state should come to parliament urgently to give our farmers the clarity they need that the government has a plan and a strong response in place to protect our farms and support all those affected," he said.

Government vets have enforced a mandatory housing order requiring all birds, including on commercial farms and backyard flocks, to be kept indoors and a support package was announced in October which includes allowing farmers to be paid compensation from the outset of planned culling rather than at the end, to help stem cash flow pressures.

In November, the government reported that 3.2m birds died or were culled for avian influenza disease control purposes between October 2021 and September 2022, and that the figure was 2.8m between October and November 2022.

The government said in November the figures represent a "small proportion", then 0.6%, of overall yearly poultry production, which Mr Spencer said was "circa 20m birds slaughtered for human consumption per week".