Phuket “still free of bird ‘flu’

PHUKET: With the official start of the tourism high season just two weeks away, the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office (PPLO) has reconfirmed that Phuket is still free of bird ‘flu.

The head of the PPLO, Sunart Wongchawalit, said today that his office had once again checked all the poultry farms in Phuket and had found no sign of the disease.

The PPLO is still awaiting reports from 10 villages, but K. Sunart said that as far as his office could ascertain, there had been no abnormal or suspicious deaths of chickens up to today.

“People are right to be worried if a chicken is ill, but not one chicken in Phuket has had bird ‘flu,” said K. Sunart.

He added that stringent checks and procedures are still in place at Tah Chat Chai checkpoint to ensure that no contaminated birds are brought onto the island.