More African countries ban poultry imports
Four of South Africa's neighbouring countries have banned poultry imports following a serious outbreak of a highly contagious strain of bird flu.
Namibia has become the latest country to ban South African chickens - live and frozen. Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Zambia have already halted imports of certain poultry products.
Spokesperson for the KZN Department of Agriculture, Khaye Nkwanyane says contingency plans are in place to fight avian flu - should it reach our province.
"KwaZulu-Natal is one of the biggest provinces in the chicken farming industry, both commercial and subsistence, where our people in villages are breeding indigenous chickens. So there's no doubt that if [avian flu] comes here we will suffer greatly," he said.
ALSO READ: Govt bans sale of live chickens
Government has introduced a nationwide ban on the sale of live chickens. Authorities say that the strain arrived in the region with birds migrating from Europe and has been detected in 15 European countries - including Britain, France and Germany, since October last year.
Avian influenza, for most purposes, refers to the influenza A virus, although this is adapted to birds, it can also stably adapt and sustain person-to-person transmission.
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