As China is faced with a serious threat because of the bird flu, Malaysia has banned the import of chicken from there for an indefinite time.

 

The ban has been effective since January 16, according to Veterinary Services Department director-general Dr. Abdul Aziz Jamaluddin. He also added that Malaysia would lift the ban when the situation in China returned to normal.

 

Last year, the government also froze imports of chicken from Thailand as a result of the outbreak of the bird flu virus in that country.

 

In 2007, Malaysia suffered an outbreak of bird flu, thought to be from infected chickens imported from Thailand.

 

Dr. Abdul Aziz Jamaluddin said the country couldn’t afford another outbreak as in 2007. He also added that Malaysia “doesn’t have to worry about a shortage of supply as all private sector companies in the country which import chicken from China have enough stock for three months.”

 

Meanwhile, the situation in China is getting worse, as the country’s Ministry of Health announced on Monday the fifth death caused by the H5N1 strain of bird flu. The man, 18, was admitted to hospital on January 24, in Yulin, in the southwestern Guangxi, bordering Vietnam, after falling ill three days earlier.

 

The other four people who died after contracting the virus include a 31-year-old woman from Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region, a 16-year-old boy, a 27-year-old woman in Shandong province, and a 19-year-old woman who died in Beijing on January 5.