France's farming ministry said lab tests confirmed H5N1 in turkeys at a farm in the southeast Ain region, where thousands of the birds were found dead on Thursday. The farm, which had more than 11,000 turkeys, has been sealed off and surviving birds slaughtered.

In an indication of the global impact of the French case, Japan has already from Friday temporarily suspended imports of French poultry, including the delicacy foie gras, meat and other internal organs, according to the Japanese Embassy in Paris.

No human cases of bird flu have been reported in France or elsewhere in the EU.

Meanwhile, tests confirmed Slovakia's first cases of H5N1 in wild birds, officials said on Friday. The strain was detected in a white grebe found in the capital, Bratislava, and in a peregrine falcon found at the border with Hungary.

German authorities said on Friday that the deadly strain has been found in wild birds in two more German states.

Meanwhile the Republic of Korea's health authoritiesn on Friday confirmed the country's first cases of bird flu in humans. The Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported that four quarantine workers, involved in culling operations on poultry farms after the bird flu virus hit the RoK in late 2003, had tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the virus. However, none of the four have suffered flu-liked symptoms or any other illnesses believed to be linked to bird flu infection, the Korea Times reported.

Bird flu has killed its 20th human victim in Indonesia, a 27-year-old woman, according to tests by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, an Indonesian health ministry official said on Saturday.

Reuters/CNN