Tema Metropolis declared bird flu zone

Accra, May 2, GNA - The Tema Metropolitan area has been declared an Avian Influenza zone following the detection of the H5N1 strain of the Avian influenza at a poultry farm located along the Accra-Akosombo road in the Tema metropolis.

A total of 1,678 birds have been destroyed at the farm and adjourning houses. Structures within the community have been disinfected and all carcasses incinerated and the remains buried. Food and Agriculture Minister, Mr Ernest Debrah, said these at a press briefing in Accra.

He said there was to be "no movement of live birds within and out of the Tema Municipal area until further notice". "The security agencies and the general public are urgently requested to rigidly enforce this. All live bird markets in the municipality immediately closed," he added.

Mr Debrah said the public should remain calm because the national task force was "technically and expertly handling the situation." "At this stage, we can assure the public that it is still quite safe to eat chicken...", he said.

Giving a background on the issue, the Minister said on April 24, this year, the Accra Veterinary laboratory diagnosed potential avian influenza in samples taken from the poultry farm in Tema. Further tests in and out of the country confirmed the H5N1 strains, which led to the immediate closure of the farm and a ban on poultry in and out of the farm.

He said, "we are still conducting investigations to determine where this strain came from and how it entered the farm." He said all poultry farmers should increase their level of security and ensure that people did not unnecessarily enter their farms. The Minister said in cases where birds had to be destroyed as part of controlled measures, compensation at a rate between 50 to 90 percent of the market value of the destroyed birds before the outbreak would be paid to farmers.

"In the past five years, 172 people have died globally from bird flu with one documented death in Nigeria. There has been no reported case of bird flu in humans in Ghana, " he said.

On some precautionary measures, the Minister cautioned farmers to regularly clean areas where poultry were kept. He said they should wash their hands thoroughly with soap after touching the birds. He mention sudden and unexplained deaths among birds and watery droppings as some signs of bird flu and said the national task force had heightened surveillance and everything was been done to contain future outbreak.