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About 5,000 birds are being slaughtered after avian flu was confirmed in turkeys on a Suffolk farm, government officials have announced.
The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the H5 strain was found in turkeys near Diss on the Norfolk and Suffolk border.
The farm also houses ducks and geese and all the birds will be slaughtered.
A 3km protection zone and a 10km surveillance zone are in the process of being set up.
Preliminary tests showed the turkeys, which were being raised for Christmas, had the H5 strain of bird flu, but it is not yet known whether it is a highly pathogenic form of the disease.
All birds are being slaughtered at the premises, and Defra said it was consulting on what further measures may be needed.
Inside the zones, bird movements will be restricted and all birds must be housed or isolated from contact with wild birds.
Acting Chief Veterinary Officer Fred Landeg said: "Everybody needs to be concerned: we are asking every poultry keeper to be vigilant, to house their birds where they are required to do so and report any signs of the disease."
All poultry keepers on the British poultry register will be notified and EU officials have been informed.
Mr Landeg said that laboratory results on what type of bird flu it was were expected "in the next 24 hours".
He told BBC Radio 5Live that the disease was discovered on Sunday by a vet, who noticed that there had been an increasing number of deaths among turkeys in one of the five sheds on the farm.
Results on Monday morning showed that the flu was of the H5 type - but more tests were needed to ascertain whether it is the dangerous variant.
He said that the risk of bird flu spreading was increased during the autumn months, because of wild bird migration.
Mr Landeg confirmed that the affected birds were free-range - meaning they had access to the outdoors and may have been of greater risk of catching the disease.
A statement released on behalf of poultry producer Bernard Matthews said the affected farm was not owned by the company, and none of the firm's farms fell within the exclusion zone.
Earlier this year bird flu was discovered at a Bernard Matthews turkey farm in Suffolk.
More than 160,000 birds were killed after an outbreak of the virulent H5N1 strain of the disease on the farm in February.
If the disease is not contained quickly, there are fears that it might exacerbate an already-feared shortage of turkeys this Christmas.
Industry sources said last week that rising feed costs are set to push up prices by as much as a fifth.
There are already predictions that more expensive turkeys will add around £5 to the cost of the average Christmas lunch.
\o/
Didnt half the worlds population nrealy get killed off last time - or so the press would have us believe
I reckon I'm far more likely to die from the beef I've just used in tonight's curry. Can't remember when I took it out of the freezer, but I'm guessing it's been out for 4 or 5 days. Can't wait.
We're all off to die again 
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