Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, has announced that one case of highly-pathogenic H5N8 bird flu virus was reported on a poultry farm in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
Dr. Abdullah Aba Al Khail, the ministry’s spokesperson, said that emergency teams were able to control the outbreak after implementing standard operational procedures of the emergency plan on site.
The case was the first outbreak of the H5N8 virus in Saudi Arabia since July 2018.
Dr. Aba Al Khail, citing the World Health Organization (WHO), said this type only infects birds and does not pose a threat to human health, recalling that this type of bird flu was registered in the Kingdom and was controlled in 2017.
The spokesman called on the poultry farmers to take utmost care and vigil as well as to apply preventive measures when dealing with birds, and not to import new birds for the time being.
He also cautioned against hunting of any sorts of birds and inform in the event of spotting any suspicious cases by contacting the toll free number 8002470000.
