BRUSSELS, Oct. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union (EU), on early Thursday announced to ban poultry imports from Romania following the Avian Influenza virus H5 was confirmed by EU experts.

    Further tests are necessary to establish whether the virus in question is the deadly H5N1 strain, which has killed or forced the slaughter of millions of birds across Asia and killed more than 60people.

    Following the fresh test results, EU imports of live birds, poultry meat and other poultry products from Romania will be banned in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus, said the commission in a statement.

    Fears that bird flu is creeping closer to the 25-nation bloc's borders are growing since Romania's Danube region affected by the virus is one of Europe's richest habitats for wild birds.

    Later on Wednesday, an emergency expert meeting of the bloc's Standing Committee of the Food Chain and Animal Health will be convened in Brussels to review the situation.

    It is also expected that the Community Reference Laboratory forAvian Influenza Weybridge in the United Kingdom will Thursday be able to confirm whether the virus isolated in Turkey is the deadly H5N1 strain.

    Earlier this week, poultry products from Turkey were banned from the EU after outbreaks of bird flu were confirmed. Enditem