KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government has ordered the Veterinary Services Department through Tuaran district officer to declare Tuaran district as bird flu outbreak area.
This is following a sample tested on July 31 which found a chicken farm recording positive results to the disease also known as Avian Influenza.
Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Junz Wong said to contain the virus from spreading to other districts, the department would cull all poultry within a kilometre radius from the farm involved.
“The distance will be expanded to five km radius if surveillance finds positive samples outside the one km area.
“The department’s enforcement team will ensure no poultry is taken out from the outbreak area,” he said in a statement here.
Wong said a high record of chicken deaths was recorded at farms recently, but 939 samples tested at that time were found negative of the virus.
He however assured that chicken meat and eggs sold in the market were safe to consume as they had gone through stringent tests.
He also reminded poultry farmers to inform the nearest veterinary office if there was more than three per cent deaths of their livestocks within a certain period of time.
He urged the public not to worry about the outbreak as it would be fully contained within a month.