April 24, 2006

UK lifts bird flu quarantine on Scottish village

Scottish officials lifted a quarantine zone Saturday (Apr 22) that was imposed after a dead swan tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus.

The 3-kilometre zone around the village of Cellardyke was lifted just after midnight (2300 GMT Friday), said the Scottish Executive, the country's governing body. It has said a wider 10-kilometre surveillance will be lifted May 1 if there are no further positive tests for the deadly strain of the virus.

The restrictions were put in place Apr 5 after a dead whooper swan was discovered in the village, about 725 kilometres north of London.

The deadly virus has not been found in domestic UK poultry, although more than 50 birds died at a quarantine center last year after the infection reached the UK through a shipment of Mesias parrots from Taiwan.