Romania's Agriculture Ministry said yesterday British lab tests had confirmed the H5N1 strain of bird flu had been found in Romania.
Agriculture Ministry spokesman Adrian Tibu said agriculture, veterinary officials were holding an emergency meeting yesterday morning with Interior Ministry officials and local leader to decide how to respond to the outbreak.
The lethal strain was confirmed in Turkey on Thursday.
Officials in the Balkans sought to soothe fears by showing they weren't afraid of fowl.
Romanian President Traian Basescu urged his people to continue eating chicken on Friday, saying his wife is cooking it at home. In Hungary, where the Poultry Product Board reported that the sale of chicken immediately fell by 10-15 percent when the outbreak started, Agriculture Minister Jozsef Graf on Friday ate a roasted leg of chicken at a downtown food market.
The risk of contracting bird flu from handling raw packaged chicken bought in supermarkets is considered negligible, said Bernard Vallat, director general of the World Organization for Animal Health, adding that no such cases have ever been recorded.
In response to the spread of the virus,EU authorities agreed on Friday on new measures aimed at preventing a lethal strain of bird flu from entering the bloc and moved to calm people's fears about contracting the disease, one day after it was confirmed on the continent's doorstep in Turkey.
Experts say there is no reason to avoid eating cooked chicken because the virus is killed in seconds when the meat is cooked, but such assurances may not assuage the fear of some consumers as concerns spread on a continent with vivid memories of mad cow disease.
The new EU measures, agreed upon after two days of emergency talks, "focus on strengthening biosecurity measures on farms and introducing early detection systems in high risk areas" like wetlands frequented by wild birds, said an EU statement issued late on Friday.
The EU has banned poultry imports from Turkey and from Romania, where bird flu was also detected this week. Officials in the two countries slaughtered more fowl on Friday.
In Turkey, Betul Demirel of Seker Pilic poultry company said the sector had come "close to a standstill" after people stopped eating poultry products. "There is an 80 percent decrease in sales," since the outbreak began, she said.
Turkish veterinary officials in protective plastic suits, masks and goggles were trying to catch the remaining birds in the village of Kiziksa, where the virus was detected, and were trying to persuade villagers who were hiding their chickens to surrender the birds.
Officials carried out medical tests on nine people living in a neighborhood where 40 pigeons reportedly died, but released them from medical observation on Friday after determining they did not likely have bird flu.
The WHO moved on Friday to calm fears about bird flu by stressing that the risk of people getting infected is very low.
Since the outbreak began in Asia two years ago, 117 people have become infected and they were mostly poultry farmers and others involved in plucking and preparing sick birds, handling cockfights or playing with ducks and drinking duck blood.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed