The government is not considering lifting regulations banning pet birds from public transit systems, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) said yesterday.
A proposal submitted to the online public policy forum set up by the National Development Council suggested that people be allowed to take their pet birds with them on buses or trains.
The ban is part of disease prevention measures that have been in place since 2005 to curb the spread of avian influenza, and all public transport system operators know that they should not allow passengers with pet birds to access their systems, the ministry said.
The ban would not be scrapped until the spread of avian influenza shows signs of easing, it said.
The ministry said that it had consulted with the then-Department of Health on Sept. 28, 2008, and July 11, 2011, and then with the Ministry of Health and Welfare on Sept. 3 last year regarding the possibility of relaxing the measure, but health officials said the conditions were not right for easing the ban.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said in its official letters to the transportation ministry that there have been many cases in Egypt, China, Hong Kong and elsewhere in which people were confirmed to have contracted the H5N1 or H7N9 avian flu subtypes, some of whom died, and in the majority of the cases, the patients were found to have come in close contact with domesticated or wild birds carrying bird flu or they had visited places contaminated by affected birds.
Apart from H5N1 or H7N9, there are other diseases that can be transmitted from poultry to humans, including parrot fever and cryptococcosis, officials said.
The authorities responsible for various public transport systems have also been consulted and some are in favor of retaining the ban, the transportation ministry said.
Others said that health officials should use their professional judgment to decide whether the threat from the avian flu has eased, and the MOTC should make an official announcement on whether pet birds are allowed onboard public transit systems.
“The Ministry of Health and Welfare has yet to confirm that the spread of the aviation flu has eased, and the nation also lacks a screening mechanism to ensure the health of pet birds,” the MOTC said.
“Passengers using public transportation systems are mostly in confined spaces, and some passengers might panic about having pet birds on the bus or train. To protect passengers, we will continue to ban pet birds from public transit systems,” it said.
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