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Pakistan Monday banned poultry imports from India following reports of detection of bird flu in Maharastra but ruled out sealing its borders to prevent the deadly virus from spreading. Pakistan's Food and Agricultural Ministry official Rana Muhammad Akhlaq said Pakistan has banned poultry imports from India, Iran and France in view of reports of detection of cases of bird flu in these countries.
Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam, however, said Pakistan has no plans to seal the borders and called for stepping up of international cooperation to prevent the spread of the virus.
She said Pakistan was deeply concerned over the reports of detection of the H5N1 avian influenza in the neighbourhood, as such deadly viruses do not recognise borders. She said concerned ministries in Pakistan are taking stock of the situation even though no such case was reported in the country so far.
"But we cannot take it for granted," she said. Asked whether the government has any plans to seal borders with India, she said "Not at the moment. There is no such proposal." The first preventive measure is to create awareness. Any cases of flue immediately should be reported to the medical official, she said. Pakistan imports meat products from India, specially mutton and beef more than the poultry products.
As a "pre-emptive" measure, Sri Lanka has banned import of all the poultry products from India in view of the neighbouring country's confirmation of the first bird flu infection death.
"We advise the public not to bring poultry products from India and we request people, who have visited agricultural areas in India, to report immediately to the authorities since the virus could spread from many ways other than the consumption of poultry," Health Ministry Epidemiology Unit Director Dr Nihal Abeysinghe was quoted as saying by the state-run Daily News Monday.
"Whether Lanka will be affected by the virus will depend on how soon India is able to contain it. Every country affected by bird flu has tried to contain it within that particular locality and even small countries like Cambodia were able to do it," he said.
However, the ministry has taken all precautionary measures to ensure that the virus does not spread to the country.
According to Dr Abeysinghe, the health department was carrying out surveillance in all areas and discussed with hospital authorities on providing isolation and intensive care facilities during an outbreak, with the World Bank pledging to provide financial assistance to equip the Angoda National Hospital with the latest facilities.
Pledging to take all possible measures to prevent the deadly virus from affecting Sri Lanka, health authorities said in Colombo Sunday they were strengthening their plans to block the virus from entering the country and to detect it at the earliest possible time in the event of an outbreak.
The authorities also openly requested the public to take all hygienic measures including washing and sterilising in consuming poultry products.
The government has already stopped the import of poultry products and pet birds from countries affected by the virus while a stock of the anti Avian flu drug, Tamiflu, sufficient for treating 1,000 infected persons, have been brought down from the World Health Organisation.
The health officials have also been sent to Hong Kong to be trained in the use of a new technology in surveillance. The officials, in all parts of the country, will be given a special training once they return to the country.
Agriculture and Livestock Department Director Dr S Amarasekere has warned that there "is a 'high risk' of the H5N1 bird flu virus spreading to the country from India since most of its migrating birds come from the western parts of the neighbouring country".
"The government will have to focus on carrying out researches and take preventive measures. But the measures we can take are very limited because even though we have cancelled permits to import poultry, there is no active surveillance of wild birds," Dr Amarasekere was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Nepal has banned import of poultry and poultry products from India and activated all quarantine posts along the Indo-Nepal border after India reported its first outbreak of bird flu.
"We have decided to discontinue import of poultry products from India," Dalaram Pradhan, director general at the Department of Livestock Services said.
The government has asked importers not to import live birds and poultry products. The decision would remain in force till international institutions certify that the epidemic no more exists in India, he added.
Nepal has already banned import of poultry products from Thailand, Germany and Indonesia. The government has activated all 24 quarantine check posts in border areas including Tatopani in Sindhupalchowk district bordering Tibet to check possible outbreak of bird flu.
With PTI inputs