Officials today said bird flu has killed another person in Vietnam, bringing the regional death toll to 62.

A 17-year-old boy suspected of having bird flu has died, Vietnamese officials said today, as they banned poultry imports and stepped up measures to stop the disease from spreading.

A 27-year-old man whose family kept chickens in Vietnam died today, becoming Asia’s 19th bird flu fatality, while Malaysian authorities quarantined a pet-store owner on fears he may also have caught the virus striking the region’s poultry.