The government yesterday announced a ban on import of birds and other products from Malaysia, where an outbreak of deadly bird flu was reported in a remote village near the border with Thailand on Wednesday.
According to the Council of Agriculture yesterday, it had obtained information from Singapore's Agri-food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) of another outbreak of the deadly avian flu in Malaysia. The council's Animals and Plants Inspection and Quarantine Bureau later announced a ban on the import of birds and poultry products from Malaysia to block possible spread of the virus here.
"Since Taiwan remains an area unaffected by the virus, we have issued the ban in a bid to protect not only people but also our poultry industry," the bureau's Deputy Director General Yeh Ying (葉瑩), said.
However, pet bird merchants are used to introduce several kinds of pet bird from Malaysia. Council officials yesterday stressed the risk of introducing pet birds from areas affected by deadly bird flu.
According to media reports, Malaysia yesterday euthanized hundreds of birds in a village where the outbreak was discovered in order to prevent a wider transmission of bird flu, which killed 27 people in Southeast Asia earlier this year. Malaysian officials said the source of the outbreak was not known, but they were eyeing the border with Thailand, the world's fourth largest chicken exporter, until an outbreak of bird flu hit this year prompted the cull of more than 60 million birds.
Bureau officials said that they are monitoring not only Asia but also the world for another possible outbreak of the virus. Early this month, Taiwan added South Africa to its list of areas banned from exporting poultry products here.
Bureau officials yesterday reiterated the necessity of being alert when traveling to areas affected by the deadly avian bird flu strain H5N1. These areas include South Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Laos, Pakistan, China, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the southern US.
Despite being surrounded by countries struggling to deal with the H5N1 bird flu strain, Taiwan remains clear of that virus. The nation's poultry farmers, however, have been urged by the council to monitor their flocks more closely because farms have been affected by the less pathogenic H5N2 strain earlier this year.
Since March, no similar cases have been reported in the country.
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