UAE closes borders amid bird flu scares
Poultry imports to the United Arab Emirates from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have been banned following reports of bird flu incidents in the two countries.
All markets selling live chickens were closed in the UAE yesterday as the government stepped up measures to prevent the deadly virus entering the country.
The Minister of Environment and Water, Dr Mohammed Saeed Al Kindi issued a directive last Thursday as a preemptive measure closing the markets and putting border and customs teams on high alert to ensure the import restrictions are met.
In Saudi Arabia, bird flu scares have caused demand for poultry to fall by 30 percent in some provinces, according to the Al Hayat newspaper.
Saudi Arabia’s agriculture ministry confirmed in March that the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu had been discovered in birds at a house in the east of the kingdom.
In late March a health ministry official in Kuwait confirmed three new outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in two turkeys and a chicken, raising to 57 the number of infected birds found this year.
Bird flu story source: Arabian Business News