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Bird flu in Saudi Arabia

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Agriculture confirmed on Friday the first outbreak of H5N1 bird flu virus among birds in the country, the state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. After the deadly bird flu cases being detected among turkeys, parrots, peacocks and ostriches in eastern part of the country, a number of birds have been ordered to be culled, said the SPA. In addition, the Saudi Government has imposed a quarantine blocking the import of live birds into the country and banning the hunting of migrant birds to avoid further spread of the virus. No human cases have been reported up to now, according to the report. Bird flu cases have been detected in Kuwait and Egypt in the Arab region. On Wednesday, Kuwait detected three more cases of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in birds, raising the total number of the cases to 57 in the Gulf country neighbouring Saudi Arabia. — Xinhua

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