Dutch Agriculture Minister Cees Veerman on Wednesday announced new measures to prevent the spread of avian influenza, Radio Netherlands reported on Wednesday.

As of next week, pet birds kept in areas frequented by migratory birds must be kept indoors, lorries carrying live poultry or eggs from countries affected by bird flu will be disinfected upon their return to the Netherlands.

Veerman made the order in a bid to prevent an outbreak of the avian flu in the Netherlands.

Similar regulations are already in place for commercial poultry farms in risk areas. Hobby poultry in built-up districts in risk zones are exempt from the rules.

The minister also ordered that all transports of live poultry or hatching eggs must be disinfected on return from countries outside the European Union where the avian flu has been detected.

Bird flu has already been detected in Romania, Turkey and Greece. A strain of the virus that is potentially dangerous to humans has been discovered in Romania.

Source: Xinhua