KUALA LUMPUR: The H5N1 flu outbreak in Sabah is well-contained in Kampung Kauluan, Tuaran, and has not spread to any other area, according to the Sabah Veterinary Services Department.
Its deputy director (health division), Dr Peter Lee Ah Kong, said the Sabah Veterinary Services Department was constantly monitoring the situation.
The Sabah Health Department had not received any report of humans having been afflicted by the disease and it was working with the Sabah Veterinary Services Department to monitor the disease, he said when contacted by Bernama.
“As of yesterday (Monday), the Sabah Veterinary Services Department had culled 29,990 poultry and destroyed 3,500 eggs at two commercial farms in accordance with the standard operating procedure (SOP).
“The culling was carried out in the identified location in Tuaran with the aim of preventing the spread of the disease to other areas,” he said.
Lee was asked to comment on a media report that the Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety had instructed traders on Aug 3 to suspend the import of chicken and related products from Tuaran, Sabah, after being notified by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).
Hong Kong had imported about 100 tonnes of frozen chicken and 190 million chicken eggs from Malaysia in the first six months of this year.
Lee said the people of Sabah need not be concerned about the chicken and eggs in the market because they had been processed at the licensed abattoirs of the Veterinary Services Department in accordance with the SOP.
Meanwhile, the director-general of the Veterinary Services Department, Datuk Dr Quaza Nizamuddin Hassan Nizam, allayed the fears of the public over H5N1, saying the department was constantly monitoring the situation to prevent the spread of the disease. — Bernama