World | Other World Stories
Russia to tighten border controls
Russia plans to tighten border controls and is continuing the mass vaccination of domestic fowl as it seeks to prevent the spread of deadly bird flu, senior veterinary officials said yesterday.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:32 May 3, 2009
Moscow: Russia plans to tighten border controls and is continuing the mass vaccination of domestic fowl as it seeks to prevent the spread of deadly bird flu, senior veterinary officials said yesterday.
Chief state epidemiologist Gennady Onishchenko, in a letter to regional health officials, proposed preparing medical facilities at ports, airports, railway stations and other border crossings to hospitalise people suspected of having bird flu.
"To prevent the penetration and spread of avian influenza, I propose an increase of sanitary control at check points on the border of the Russian Federation with China, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan," Onishchenko said in the letter.
Bird flu has killed about 100 people worldwide since 2003, spreading from Asia to the Middle East and reaching Europe and Africa along bird migration routes.
The World Health Organisation says there is no evidence so far of human-to-human transmission of the virus, but experts fear the H5N1 bird flu strain could mutate enough to pass easily from person to person and spark an epidemic.
In Russia no cases of bird flu in humans have been registered so far.
On March 10, Russia started a mass vaccination campaign of domestic fowl against bird flu, which has killed 1.34 million birds since the latest wave of the virus hit Russia in February, the Emergencies Ministry said in statement.
The ministry said 3.99 million domestic birds had been vaccinated in the south of European Russia by yesterday.
It said that as of yesterday, the H5N1 strain had been confirmed in domestic fowl in six regions and in wild fowl in another three.
All the affected regions are situated in the North Caucasus, an area between the Caspian and Black seas on the border with Georgia and Azerbaijan, where bird flu was found last month.
More from Other World Stories
More from World
News Editor's choice
-
Allies quit ruling coalition in Nepal
Political row could trigger months of street protests and violence
-
Qatar blaze 'started at nursery'
Fire killed 19 including 13 children, at Doha’s main shopping centre
-
Jagan jailed over illegal assets
Andhra Pradesh leader accused of corruption, cheating, conspiracy
