By Mohammed Al-Abdullah

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

DAMMAM — The municipality of the Eastern Province has shut down the bird markets in Dammam and Qatif as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of the bird flu H5N8.

The municipality said its decision was to complete the measures being taken by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture in combating the virus.

It said some new cases of the flu were discovered in Tarout, Ahsa and some other areas in the province.

The bird traders welcomed the municipality's decision and said it was aimed at making sure that their birds were free of this virus which is fatal to them.

Mohammed Al-Shuwaikhat, a decorative birds trader, said the ministry's market inspections were for their own good. "The ministry teams want to make sure that our birds are immunized and are free from the virus," he said.

Habib Ashour, another bird trader, also commended the ministry's efforts aimed at stopping the spread of the bird flu.

He said they have responded favorably to the ministry's orders to evacuate the market and to halt all the selling and buying operations.

Director of environmental health at the Qatif Municipality, Dr. Karrar Al-Faraj said the bird flu type H5N8 does not spread among humans and cannot be transferred from birds to men.

He, however, asked the bird traders to take all the necessary measures that would prevent the spread of the virus among their birds.

The ministry, on the other hand, said only two cases of the flu were detected during the past 24 hours among birds in Al-Ahsa and Darmah in the Eastern Province.

The ministry said it had culled more than 240,000 affected birds in the two regions.