French Agricultural Ministry confirmed on Saturday it had detected the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus on a wild duck found dead in a southeastern village.

The duck was found on Monday in a bird reserve, about 30 km northeast of France's third largest city Lyon. France's food safety agency confirmed the presence of the highly pathogenic H5N1virus on the duck, the ministry said in a statement.

"This virus is to 99 percent identical with the virus of Asian origin," the ministry said.

As the EU's top poultry producer, France is already on alert to try to ensure that bird flu does not spread from the wild to its 200,000 farms.

Officials said they had set up a security zone of 3 km around the site where the duck was found. Veterinarians were checking birds within the area in line with emergency measures planned by the European Union.

At a news conference in Paris on Saturday, French Agriculture Minister Dominique Bussereau said that some 900,000 birds across France would be vaccinated.

Before the results of lab tests were confirmed, French President Jacques Chirac called for calm and said the government would be vigilant and ready to act on a possible outbreak.

Within the EU, H5N1 cases have been reported recently in Austria, Germany, Greece, Italy and Slovenia.