Sydney, July 3 : Authorities in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) said on Friday that they have detected the first suspected case of the deadly H5N1 avian influenza on the country's east coast.

Tara Moriarty, NSW's minister for agriculture, told reporters that preliminary testing of samples taken from a migratory giant petrel that was found sick near the small coastal town of Hawks Nest, 165 km northeast of Sydney, returned a positive result for the highly pathogenic strain.

She said that the samples have been sent to the national science agency for confirmatory testing. If confirmed, it would be the sixth case of the H5N1 strain on the Australian mainland and the first on the east coast.

All five previous cases were detected in migratory birds in June, with four in Western Australia (WA) and one in South Australia (SA).

Moriarty said on Friday that the state government has notified the poultry industry about the suspected case.

"We haven't had any reports of the poultry industry being impacted," she said.

"So there's no need to panic, keep buying eggs, keep buying chicken."

Prior to the first case being detected in WA, the Australian mainland was the only continent free from the strain that has caused the deaths of millions of birds and other wildlife globally since 2020, Xinhua news agency reported.

NSW's Chief Veterinary Officer, Jo Coombe, said that Australian authorities were "very aware" of the looming threat of the H5N1 strain and have spent several years preparing for a local outbreak.

Avian influenza A(H5N1) is a subtype of influenza virus that infects birds and mammals, including humans in rare instances. The goose/Guangdong-lineage of H5N1 avian influenza viruses first emerged in 1996 and have been causing outbreaks in birds since then. Since 2020, a variant of these viruses belonging to the H5 clade 2.3.4.4b has led to an unprecedented number of deaths in wild birds and poultry in many countries in Africa, Asia and Europe. In 2021, the virus spread to North America, and in 2022, to Central and South America.

/IANS