Bird flu found in Azerbaijan: officials
BAKU – The bird flu virus has been discovered in western Azerbaijan, health officials said on Friday.
Deputy Health Minister Elsever Aghayev said the State Veterinary Service had reported massive deaths of birds in the Samukh region to the Health Ministry and blood samples were sent in for testing. The tests confirmed that one of the birds’ blood contained the H5N1 virus.
Meanwhile, the country’s environment ministry has imposed a month-long ban on bird hunting after the bird flu threat emerged. It said in a statement that the measure came after four people were diagnosed with bird flu in neighboring Turkey and one each in Georgia and Hong Kong in past days.
The migration of birds to Azerbaijan from southeastern Asia and Turkey and Georgia’s sharing a border with the South Caucasus republic has raised concerns that the virus could spread to Azerbaijan any time.
Here we are to serve you with news right now. It does not cost much, but worth your attention.
Choose to support open, independent, quality journalism and subscribe on a monthly basis.
By subscribing to our online newspaper, you can have full digital access to all news, analysis, and much more.
You can also follow AzerNEWS on Twitter @AzerNewsAz or Facebook @AzerNewsNewspaper
Thank you!