A string of EU countries have now confirmed H5N1 in wild birds, knocking consumer confidence in poultry meat - especially chicken. But the EU farm chief rejected requests from member states to support poultry prices saying the situation had not yet become sufficiently severe.

"We have the measures and legislation for containment and eradication of such diseases," EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou told journalists in Brussels.

As bird flu continued its relentless march into the heart of Europe from Asia, at least 11 nations worldwide reported outbreaks over the past three weeks, an indication that the virus, which has killed at least 92 people, is spreading faster.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday that mutations in the H5N1 virus are seemingly making it more deadly in chickens and more resistant in the environment but without yet increasing the threat to humans.

The changes, which all viruses undergo, have affected patterns of transmission amongst domestic poultry and wild birds, with ducks, for example, developing the ability to pass the virus on without getting ill.

"They have not, however, had any discernible impact on the disease in humans, including its modes of transmission," the WHO said in a statement posted on its Web site (www.who.int).

India's Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said the situation was "under control" and there were no human cases of avian flu in the country despite fears at the weekend that a farmer had succumbed to the disease.

Officials in the remote district of Nandurbar in western Maharashtra state launched door-to-door checks for people with fever, and continued a mass cull of up to half a million birds.

Six people, including three young children, with flu-like symptoms were hospitalised on Monday, joining a woman and a child who were placed in an isolation ward the previous day.

"Eight people are in isolation. We are keeping our fingers crossed," federal health secretary P.K. Hota told a news conference in New Delhi.

In Germany, soldiers in biohazard suits were deployed to prevent the spread of bird flu after H5N1 reached the mainland.

Sixty soldiers clad in disease protection suits and gas masks disinfected vehicles on the Baltic island of Ruegen while Tornado air force jets searched the coast for dead birds.

In Italy, 30,000 workers have been laid off in the poultry industry as demand for chicken meat plunged by 70 percent.

TAMIFLU STOCKS

Egyptian officials said bird flu had spread to new parts of the country, adding to the devastation in a poultry industry which provided a vital part of Egyptians' diet.

Malaysia reported its first case of H5N1 bird flu since November 2004, with the death of 40 chickens in central Selangor state last week. But Agriculture Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the public need not worry as no human was affected.

Bosnia confirmed its first cases of bird flu on Monday and neighbouring Croatia reported it second outbreak.

Hota said the government had stocked 100,000 courses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu and planned to source another 50,000.

South Africa said it would begin stockpiling supplies of Tamiflu to protect its people. The Russian government said it planned to buy 100 million doses of bird vaccine to protect domestic fowl.

France gave the West African nation of Niger equipment to improve bird flu testing after H5N1 was confirmed in three more states in neighbouring Nigeria.

A Reuters photographer in India's Nandurbar said workers in blue overalls, anti-viral masks and goggles were culling chicken by wringing their necks or mixing chemicals in chicken feed.