MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines has declared its avian flu crisis, which prompted the culling of over 600,000 birds, to be officially over as it eased restrictions on the shipment of poultry products from towns where outbreaks were detected.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said the ban on poultry shipments was now confined within a one-kilometre radius of the three areas hit by the deadly H5N6 strain in two provinces north of the capital Manila.
"Following the recommendations of biosecurity experts, I signed a memorandum circular lifting the quarantine restrictions in the seven-kilometre Controlled Area Radius around the town of San Luis, Pampanga and in Jaen and San Isidro towns in Nueva Ecija," he said in a Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) post late on Saturday.
He announced the first ever bird flu outbreak in the country three weeks ago, with the second outbreak detected days later in another town.