11. Bird Flu in Malaysia
S'pore bans poultry, egg imports from Selangor
By Jessica Jaganathan of The Straits Times, Singapore
Singapore suspended poultry and egg imports from Selangor yesterday (June 6) after the deaths of 60 chickens in a village in the central part of the Malaysian state were traced to the bird flu virus.
The culling of chickens and birds within a 1km radius of the affected village began yesterday, with officials predicting that about 2,000 birds would be killed.
The outbreak of bird flu is the first in Malaysia since March last year.
Malaysian news reports said authorities had been investigating the case since last Saturday, and had run two separate tests before identifying the virus as the deadly H5N1 strain.
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi warned against complacency in the war against the virus. 'They have to identify and quickly take whatever measures to prevent it from spreading,' he told reporters.
Datuk Zulkifli Idris, secretary-general of Malaysia's Agricultural and Agro-based Industries Ministry, said he hoped the situation would be contained within 36 hours.
Selangor is not the key Malaysian supplier of poultry and eggs to Singapore: Only 6 per cent of the Republic's chickens and 1 per cent of its eggs from Malaysia come from there.
But with Singapore being free of the disease, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) here is nevertheless on high alert and is working closely with Malaysian health officials to ensure that all poultry and eggs imported from the country are safe.
AVA said poultry imports from disease-free zones of Johor, Malacca, Negri Sembilan and Perak will not be affected by the suspension.
An AVA spokesman said surveillance will be stepped up at border points so that the disease does not slip in. Immigration & Checkpoints Authority and AVA officers will check for the smuggling of birds and avian products. AVA also said it would step up inspections and sample testings at the slaughterhouses.
It said the suspension of imports of poultry and eggs will last until Selangor declares itself free of bird flu.
Poultry farms and slaughterhouses in Singapore are also on alert. They have set up netting to prevent wild birds from mixing with their resident flocks; vehicles which trundle in and out of these farms need to drive through disinfectant baths, and only employees are allowed in.
Countries in the region have been struggling to cope with the deadly bird flu. Indonesia, which reported its 79th fatality last month--a girl in Central Java who died after handling a dead chicken--has seen the world's highest death toll from the disease.
During the last bird flu outbreak in Malaysia, Singapore banned all poultry from Selangor and Perak for three months. This time, most merchants expect to escape relatively unscathed because Selangor is a minor supplier.
But egg importer Tan Kui Lai, who brings in 120,000 eggs from two Selangor farms every week, is staring at a potential loss of $10,000.
He told The Straits Times: 'I am worried how long this is going to last. I don't even know when my next truckload of eggs is going to come in.'
