An outbreak of bird flu has been confirmed at a poultry farm in southern England although tests indicate it is not the virulent H5N1 strain, the farm ministry said on Tuesday.

The ministry said in a statement chicken on a farm in Oxfordshire had an H7 strain of bird flu, adding further tests were need to determined whether the virus was highly pathogenic.

All birds on the farm had been slaughtered as a precautionary measure.

The strain involved in the outbreak is not the deadly H5N1 virus, which has killed more than 230 people since 2003 and resulted in the deaths of millions of birds.