Authorities fear the spread of a very deadly bird flu virus after finding dead birds. Domestic birds should from now be kept indoors, and people are asked not to feed birds in the wild.

Bird flu, or avian influenza, has struck the Swedish poultry industry hard this winter. Since November, thousands of turkeys and more than one million chickens have been culled. Malin Grant, an epidemiologist at the National Veterinary Institute, says the virus can be deadly for domestic poultry but the strains currently circulating don't easily infect or spread between people.

The particularly dangerous strain of avian influenza virus H5N8 has been detected in a mute swan found on the Kopli peninsula in Tallinn.

Dozens of dead eiders have been found along the coast in Eastern Norway. The preliminary autopsy report shows no signs of bird flu, but the birds are thin and emaciated.

Why are barnacle geese and seagulls dying by the dozens in Helsinki and not Turku? The birds have been dying in droves off the coast of Helsinki, and in the islands off coastal cities nearby as far out as Inkoo in the west and Porvoo in the east. The phenomenon was first reported on Thursday by Helsingin Sanomat.