HAVANA, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- New cases of bird flu have been reported in the northeastern region of the Dominican Republic and thousands of birds were culled to prevent the spread of the virus, the country's Agriculture Ministry said on Friday.

    Precautionary measures have been taken, including the culling of chickens within a radius of five kilometers of the virus-hit area, since the cases were found earlier this week, news reports said.

    This is the bird flu outburst in the country since December 2007.

    The virus has dealt a heavy blow to chicken farms in the country since neighboring Haiti stopped imports of chicken and eggs from the Dominican Republic since the virus was found on chickens there.