Ukraine considers full Crimea quarantine to halt bird flu
The Star, 18 Dec 2005

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - Ukrainian ministers on Saturday ruled out imposing a quarantine on the entire Crimea peninsula to contain the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, saying the measure would hurt the region's farm industry. 

The ministers combating the outbreak in more than a dozen villages said officials had concluded at a meeting that extending local quarantines through region was unnecessary. 

"We have for the moment decided against this given that the region has considerable potential for poultry production," Emergencies Minister Viktor Baloha told reporters in Simferopol, Crimea's main town. 

"Introducing such extraordinary measures throughout Crimea would generate large losses for the enterprises concerned." 

Agriculture Minister Oleksander Baranivsky urged residents to remain calm on the peninsula jutting into the Black Sea, a major stopover point for migratory birds. 

"There   should    be    no    panic.   The

problem is not as big as one might think," he said. "Other countries have got through this and so will we. The issue is whether we get through it with big losses or smaller losses." 

Baloha said latest figures showed mass deaths of birds had occurred in four new Crimean villages. That brought the total to about 30, of which 15 had proven cases of bird flu. 

A farm ministry spokesman had earlier said that Baranivsky found current measures insufficient and officials were considering a Crimea-wide quarantine. The spokesman also said a British laboratory had confirmed results from Russian academics -- that the virus was H5N1, potentially dangerous to humans. 

President Viktor Yushchenko invoked a state of emergency in several villages after bird flu was detected this month, with specialists going from house to house to seize and slaughter birds. Exclusion zones were set up and patrolled by police. 

But villagers complained that birds had been falling ill since September with officials taking no action. Ukraine's chief veterinary officer was then dismissed. 

Baranivsky said monitors had noted lax application of measures in force, with villagers failing to keep birds indoors. 

Farm ministry figures had earlier said more than 62,000 birds had been destroyed and the equivalent of more than $250,000 in compensation distributed. 

Cases of H5N1 have also been detected in adjacent Romania and Russia. Romanian officials said new cases of one type of virus had been found about 90 km east of Bucharest. 

Several of Ukraine's neighbours have imposed a ban on food imports from Crimea and adjoining regions. 

Bird flu is endemic in poultry in parts of Asia where it has killed more than 70 people. Though hard for people to catch, experts fear it could mutate into a form, which passes easily from person to person.