NAIA takes steps to keep out bird flu

Passengers coming from areas with outbreaks of avian influenza, popularly known as "bird flu," are now required to undergo footwear disinfection upon disembarking from their planes, said Dr. Davino Catbagan, chief of the Veterinary and Quarantine Service of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Required to undergo footwear "baths" are passengers from the Republic of Korea, Japan, Taiwan, People’s Republic of China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Pakistan, the states of Delaware, Texas, Pennsylvania and Maryland in the United States, and British Columbia in Canada, and passengers that had stopovers in these areas.

Catbagan also said that the importation of items like poultry meat, day-old chicks and eggs from the affected areas are banned.

"There will be no transshipment or stopover at any country affected by bird flu," he said.

Catbagan said that Korea first reported a bird flu outbreak on Dec. 19, 2003; Vietnam and Japan on Jan. 13, 2004; Thailand and Indonesia on Jan. 23; and China, Cambodia, Pakistan and Laos on Jan. 28. Texas and British Columbia reported outbreaks on Feb. 24, while the latest territories to be affected were Maryland and Delaware on March 9.