No need to ban Novosibirsk poultry chief doctor said

There is no need to put a ban on poultry from Novosibirsk (Western Siberia), a region hit by the bird flu, said Russia's chief doctor and head of the Federal Service for the Supervision of Consumer Protection and Welfare.

"I am issuing an official statement that there is no need to ban Novosibirsk's poultry products. Adequate measures are being taken in the infected areas. I promise that I will be the first to announce a ban on Novosibirsk poultry," said Gennady Onishchenko.

He also said the information about the regions where such a ban had been introduced would be carefully checked.

"I will request a document to that effect, as the information about the ban in the Altai region (southeast of Western Siberia) has not been confirmed," said Onishchenko.

He said the authorities of the Novosibirsk region had made no decisions of the kind. The situation in Kemerovo (south of Western Siberia) could turn out to be the same, reports RIA Novosti.

According to Reuters, the ministry said the virus had so far killed 2,707 domestic birds in the Novosibirsk region and another 300 in Altai, where no new deaths among poultry were registered on Tuesday.

"The situation has stabilised in the Tyumen region. Around 100 birds had died at small private farms so far and no new cases have been registered in the last 24 hours," Sergey Palevich, deputy head of the Tyumen veterinary inspectorate, told Reuters.

So far no cases of humans being infected with bird flu had been registered.