Animal Quarantine Tightened As Bird Flu Hits Asian Nations

Bandar Seri Begawan – The Agriculture Department has taken steps to tighten animal quarantine in an effort to prevent possible spread of the ‘bird flu’ disease in Brunei.

Members of the public are also advised not to be unduly worried about news report on the outbreaks of ‘bird flu’ in a number of Asian countries recently.

The bird flu is also known as 'Avian Flu', 'Bird Flu' and 'Chicken Flu'.

The measure to prohibit import of birds and chickens and their related species irrespective of whether it is alive or its products from the affected countries and countries with high risk is to protect the interest of Brunei Darussalam.

The Agriculture Department will continue to monitor the disease status of affected countries until the situation is considered to have recovered and safe.

In this context, the department will tighten control measures to prevent possible outbreak of chicken flu in farms throughout the country through continuous monitoring.

The public is not to worry about the safety of chicken and eggs sold in the markets as there is no import with the exception of a small quantity of such products from countries free from the disease.

The Agriculture Department said that the virus ‘Avian Influenza A H5N 1’ that caused the disease can be destroyed through cooking and poses no risk to consumers.

The public is advised to cooperate with the authorities and to refrain from bringing into the country animals and their products without permission from the authority concerned.

As a precautionary measure, the public especially poultry farmers and bird keepers are advised to observe personal hygiene, farm sanitation and cleanliness of the surrounding farm areas. -- Courtesy of Radio Television Brunei 

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