U.S. poultry producers should ramp up testing and monitoring of turkeys for bird flu before they are slaughtered to ensure the virus stays out of the food supply, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Friday.

The CDC advises testing hospitalized flu patients for bird flu within 24 hours to prevent delays in identifying human infections. While the public risk remains low, nearly 70 Americans have contracted bird flu.

The advisory is intended to prevent delays in identifying human cases of avian influenza A (H5N1) viruses amid high levels of seasonal influenza

A group that advocates for animal rights says the US Government needs to do more to stop the spread of bird flu or H5N1. More than 100 million birds have been affected according to the CDC and over 1 million birds have been euthanized in the United States due to bird flu.

Although it says the risk of bird flu contagion to the public remains low, with no evidence of human-to-human transmission, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is calling on hospitals to test flu

The CDC recommends that hospitalized flu patients be tested for bird flu within 24 hours to timely identify avian influenza A (H5N1) cases. While the public risk remains low, faster detection aids in tracing infections and providing swift medical response.

The latest funding is a sign of how seriously the Biden administration appears to be taking the pandemic threat.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is urging health care workers to accelerate bird flu testing for patients hospitalized with flu symptoms, as the H5N1 avian influenza outbreak continues to grow in the United States and Canada.