There is no reason to panic, the situation is manageable and from the first moment all the protocols of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture have been implemented for the cases of bird flu that were detected in properties in the province of Famagusta, said the Minister of Health Michalis Hatzipantela, after a meeting which he had on Wednesday with the Veterinary Services and the Services of the Ministry of Agriculture on the matter.
As he said, the purpose of the meeting was to inform the Ministry of Health regarding the two cases of bird flu in the province of Famagusta and to coordinate between the Ministries of Health and Agriculture.
He emphasized that from the first moment all the protocols of both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture have been implemented.
"There will be surveillance of the two units by the Ministry of Agriculture and the people by the Ministry of Health and we believe that there will not be any problem. In case there are more cases, we will inform you, we will take additional measures", he noted.
The Minister said that during the meeting it was decided to inform the world by issuing a press release that will give several instructions to both the public and the hunters who are in contact with several birds in the wild.
The respondent stated that the owners of the units where the cases have been identified are in communication with the Ministry of Health. "Some tests will be carried out today and we will have the results in the next few days. We will have some preliminary results immediately, some others within a day or two," he noted.
Regarding the cases that are in self-limitation, he said that these are being monitored by the Ministry of Health.
He explained that the transmission came from birds that may have come to Cyprus from some other countries.
"The good thing about these two cases is that they are non-animal farm properties, two individual private properties, and there will be no transmission to humans," he said.
When asked, he said that the disease is not so easily transmitted. At the meeting, he said, there was also an epidemiologist from the Ministry of Health and the information they received is that transmission is not easy.
"That doesn't mean we shouldn't do anything. We must take all the measures and implement all the protocols that exist in the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture", he added.
He said that the killing of the birds has already begun, noting that this must be done carefully so as not to cause panic in the birds and move them to other properties. It is something, he continued, that the Department of Agriculture handles very carefully.
The General Director of the Ministry of Agriculture, Andreas Grigoriou said that during the meeting they informed about all the actions taken by the Department of Veterinary Services on the occasion of the detection of the bird flu virus in four domestic birds in the province of Famagusta.
We want to assure, he noted, that all the necessary measures foreseen by the specific action plan-protocol are taken in a way to limit the spread of the virus.
"All the production units have been informed and these birds have been limited to the two collections in the province of Famagusta, a relevant announcement has been issued and as a result of today's meeting, a press release will follow to inform the public", he noted.
"The killing process has started and is expected to be completed in the next few days and we are talking about a few hundred birds. We want to assure you that all the necessary measures have been taken and there is no cause for concern. However, in the event that dead birds are found, the Department of Veterinary Services must be informed immediately", he added.
Source: KYPE