UAE bans poultry imports from Saudi following bird flu outbreak

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) banned yesterday the import of wild live birds from Saudi Arabia following reports of a bird flu outbreak in the Kingdom.

The UAE’s Ministry of Climate Change and Environment said that the ban was made following a notification from the Gulf Early Warning Centre of the outbreak of a “highly contagious” strain of bird flu, H5N8, in the Azizia market in the Kingdom’s capital, Riyadh, according to the state-run WAM news agency.

According to the ministry, the ban included “all kinds of domestic and wild live birds, ornamental birds, chicks, hatching eggs and non-heat-treated waste.”

The UAE decision also included preventing the import of the poultry meat, non-heat-treated products and table eggs from the affected area in Riyadh.

Bird flu strains have hit poultry flocks in several countries across the world in recent years, with some types of the disease also causing human infections and deaths.

Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia imposed restrictions on poultry imports from countries such as Bulgaria, in an effort to prevent the disease from spreading.

Read: Saudi Arabia bans Polish and Tunisian poultry imports