Bird flu: 'No reason to panic', says Minister

There is no reason to panic, the situation is manageable and all the protocols of the Health and Agriculture Ministries have been implemented from the first moment for the avian flu cases detected in Famagusta district, said the Minister of Health, Michalis Hadjipantela, after his meeting on Wednesday with the competent authorities on the matter.

He said that the purpose of the meeting was to inform the Ministry of Health regarding the two cases of avian flu in the Famagusta district and to coordinate between the Ministries of Health and Agriculture.

Health Minister pointed out 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, and we will take additional measures", he noted.

The Minister said that during the meeting it was decided to issue a press release that will give several instructions to the public and the hunters who are in contact with several birds in the wild.

Replying to a question, Hadjipantela said 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 also explained that the transmission of the flu came from birds that may have come to Cyprus from other countries.

"The good thing about these two cases is that they don't come from animal farms, but from two private properties, and there will be no transmission to humans," he pointed out.

Answering a question, the Minister 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 issued by the Ministries of Health and Agriculture," he added.

Furthermore, Hadjipantela said that the killing of the birds has already begun, noting that this must be done carefully so as not to cause panic among the birds. This is something that the Department of Agriculture handles very carefully, he concluded.