Venezuela decrees health alert in several states of the country after detection of avian flu virus

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The Venezuelan authorities have decreed a health alert for the next 90 days in five states of the country after detecting the avian influenza virus in wild birds in the coastal area of Anzoátegui.

Thus, the Ministry of Productive Agriculture and Lands, in collaboration with the National Institute of Agricultural Health and the Ministry of Science and Technology, has informed that the sanitary alert applies to the states of Anzoátegui, La Guaira, Nueva Esparta, Sucre and Miranda.

"Likewise, quarantine was decreed in these four entities of the country, with the possibility of incorporating other states according to the results and progress of the epidemiological investigations of avian influenza," the Ministry of Science has detailed in a statement.

The news has been confirmed by the Minister of Science, Gabriela Jiménez, who, through her profile on the social network Twitter , has justified both the "preventive measures" of the Government, as well as the health alert itself.

The authorities have also banned the transport of live birds and fertile eggs from the municipalities where the presence of the virus has been confirmed.

Ecuador's Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock declared on Wednesday an animal health emergency for a period of 90 days after detecting an outbreak of avian flu, as a result of which nearly 180,000 birds were ordered to be culled.

With this decision, the Ecuadorian authorities ordered that, during the next 90 days, no birds, products or derivatives of poultry origin -such as eggs, hens or chickens, among others- could be moved from the affected farms.

Ecuadorian authorities declared the first case of avian flu last weekend in a farm in the province of Cotopaxi. After this, the authorities promoted a national security plan to contain the possible spread of the disease.