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VIENNA, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Austria is to lift the nation-wide compulsory roofed housing of poultry on Saturday, a measure introduced on Jan. 11 due to multiple instances of avian flu in the country, the health ministry said Thursday.
The ministry noted in a statement that a significant improvement in the bird flu situation had been observed both within Austria and abroad.
As such, the need for the roofed housing, which was designed to protect domestic poultry from catching the virus from wild animals, is no longer deemed necessary.
The ministry noted that some risk still remained, however, and that certain other preventative measures must stay in place. These included that food and water provisions are to be provided under cover, that drinking water must not be derived from a water source to which wild birds have surface access, and that transport, loading, and handling equipment that has come into contact with birds must be carefully cleaned and disinfected.
The ministry further noted that 153 wild birds had been found dead of the virus, affecting almost all states in the country. Enditem
