The Greek government on Thursday reiterated that it has taken preventative measures against the import of poultry from both Romania and Turkey prior to EU-wide action and absolutely no instance of bird flu has been detected in the country.

Deputy Agriculture Minister Alexandros Kontos made the remarks to the Greek Parliament hours before the European Union announced that the bird flu virus, or H5N1, was detected in Turkish poultry, the strain that scientists worry may mutate into a human virus and spark a flu outbreak.

"We have received now confirmation that the virus found in Turkey is avian flu H5N1 virus," EU Health Commissioner from Cyprus Markos Kyprianou said in Brussels.

In a related development, Bulgarian officials on Thursday said they would consider the establishment of a special emergency council in the event that bird flu was detected in neighboring Romania.

Bulgaria has also banned, since Monday, the import of live poultry, meat or eggs from Romania and Turkey.

Source: Xinhua