The Department of Agriculture (DA) has slapped a temporary
ban on all imports of domestic and wild birds, along with poultry and its
products from Denmark, following (AI) or bird flu virus in that country.
Agriculture secretary Arthur Yap said the temporary ban and
other emergency measures are necessary to protect human health and the
P60-billion poultry industry in the Philippines , which has remained free of
bird flu ever since the H5N1 strain of this virus first resurfaced in Asia in
2003.
Yap said the ban covers all "domestic and wild birds and
their products, including day-old chicks, eggs and semen."
He issued the ban after the Office International des
Epizooties (OIE) or the Animal Health Organization confirmed that low pathogenic
AI has been detected in a poultry farm in Stenstrup, Svendborg Kommune, South in
Denmark ; which affected geese, chickens, ducks and mallards.
Yap directed DA quarantine officers and inspectors at all
major airports and seaports to stop and confiscate all incoming shipments of
live birds, poultry and poultry products coming from Denmark.
In his directive, Yap also ordered the immediate suspension
of the issuance of Veterinary Quarantine Clearances (VQCs) to all imports
covering these products from Denmark.
Besides Denmark, the Philippines currently bans imports of
birds, poultry and its products from among others, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Poland
and the western African country of Benin, to protect human health and the
poultry industry in the Philippines.
The Philippines is one of only three AI-free countries in
Southeast Asia . The two others are Brunei and Singapore.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that as of May
28 this year, 241 out of 382 people found in laboratory-confirmed cases to have
been infected with the AI virus have died since the H5N1 strain of the bird flu
virus resurfaced in Southeast Asia in 2003 and then spread across the rest of
the continent, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Yap had ordered the BAI last year to step up its
implementation of border patrols, quarantine measures and other preventive steps
to keep the Philippines AI-free amid the resurgence of the bird flu virus in
Asia.
He had directed BAI director Davinio Catbagan to intensify
the implementation of these preventive measures in airports and seaports in the
cities of Davao and General Santos owing to their proximity to Indonesia, one of
Asia 's bird-flu infected countries
Out of the 133 cases confirmed to date in Indonesia , 108 have been fatal,
according to WHO data.
