December 7, 2007

Britain to lift bird flu control zones

British farm ministry announced plans to lift poultry movement controls and other restrictions imposed during the recent outbreak of bird flu in eastern England.

The ministry said that one of the two protection zones would be lifted on Saturday, while the second on Monday, if there were no new setbacks in the efforts to contain the outbreak.

A requirement to house birds in a restricted zone will also be ended on Monday while the wider restricted and surveillance zones will be lifted on December 19.

Britain confirmed an outbreak at the Redgrave Park farm on the border of Norfolk and Suffolk on November 13. The virus later spread to the nearby Hill Meadow farm which shares the same workforce.

The ministry has been unable to pinpoint the source of the outbreak although wild birds have not been ruled out.