Reports of avian flu outbreak denied

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, CMC -Officials in the Dominican Republic have denied reports of an outbreak of avian flu adding that the World Health Organisation declared the country free of bird flu three years ago. In a statement on Friday, the Dominican Ambassador to Haiti, Ruben Silie said Haiti erroneously reported that the neighbouring country had an outbreak of avian flu when it cited the disease as a reason for imposing a ban on the importation of meats, chicken, eggs and other products. Last week , Haiti’s Ministry of Commerce issued an indefinite ban on some food imports from the Dominican Republic following the death of five people.