EU moves to prevent spread of avian flu

ACKNOWLEDGING it is on high alert, the European Union approved measures to try and halt the unrelenting advance of bird flu, including setting up buffer zones around outbreaks of the lethal virus.

As poultry sales plummeted across the EU (the world’s third biggest poultry exporter after the United States and Brazil) the bloc’s executive, the European Commission, reiterated that there was no need to panic.

“It is understandable that the public is concerned, but they need not be unduly alarmed as all the necessary measures are being, and will continue to be, taken,” said EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou.