Philippines bans Canadian poultry

The Philippines has banned the importation of birds and poultry products from British Columbia, Canada, after a strain of the bird flu virus was discovered there, Agriculture Secretary Domingo Panganiban said today.

The ban covers domestic and wild birds, day-old chicks, eggs and semen, according to the Department of Agriculture.

It directed authorities to suspend processing of import and quarantine permits and confiscate all shipments of poultry and poultry products from the Canadian province already in the country.

Panganiban said the move was prompted by a report by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency that a “low pathogenic” H5 strain of the virus was detected in a commercial duck farm in British Columbia on November 18.

The deadlier H5N1 strain has been ravaging poultry stocks across Asia since 2003 and has jumped to humans, killing at least 68, most in Vietnam and Thailand, according to the World Health Organisation.