PH bans bird imports from Australia

The Philippines has temporarily banned imports of domesticated and wild birds from Australia after an avian flu outbreak in the island-continent was confirmed.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) imposed the ban by citing a report from the Australian government to the World Organization for Animal Health that said Lethbridge in Victoria State had confirmed an outbreak of the H7N7 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), which can be fatal to poultry.

The DA also suspended processing and evaluating applications for sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances for these birds, including their poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen.

It clarified, however, that all incoming poultry shipments with clearances issued on or before Aug. 6, 2020 would be allowed, provided that the frozen poultry meat has a slaughter or process date of 21 days prior to the start of the outbreak on July 3.

“All shipments will be subject to veterinary rules and regulations,” the department said.

It also said veterinary quarantine officers and inspectors in all major Philippine ports would stop and confiscate all inbound shipments of the banned items.

“There is a need to prevent the entry of the HPAI virus to protect the health of [the] local poultry population,” Agriculture Secretary William Dar said in the order on the ban.

The ban comes after the department temporarily banned imports of poultry meat from Brazil on concerns these were possibly contaminated with the coronavirus.

Source: TheManila Times