Ukraine on Sunday began culling chickens, ducks and geese in its southern Crimea peninsula where the H5-type bird flu virus was detected, the Interfax news agency reported.

President Viktor Yushchenko, who chaired an emergency meeting on Saturday, declared a state of emergency in the regions of Sovetskyi and Nizhnegorsky after confirmation of the H5 bird flu virus, which have killed more than 1,600 domestic birds.

"Today we received laboratory results that confirmed the existence of the H5 variety of bird flu on Ukrainian territory," said Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Olexander Baranivsky.

Samples would be sent to labs in Britain and Italy for further checking to see if the virus is of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain, which has killed nearly 70 people in Asia since 2003.

Experts fear the H5N1 virus could mutate into a new type, which could be easily transmitted from human to human and cause a pandemic.

A special commission, headed by Emergency Minister Viktor Baloga, would be in charge of all bird flu-related measures, according to a presidential press service release.

Sales of live poultry have been banned in the Crimea peninsula and all people who came in contact with poultry would undergo medical tests, it said.

Source: Xinhua