Slovenia took a series of measures on Sunday to prevent spreading of bird flu virus after such a virus was found in a dead swan in the country's northeast city of Maribor, said reports reaching here from Ljubljana.

Slovenia's Center for Disease Control set a three-kilometer quarantine area around the place where the dead swan was found as well as a ten-kilometer zone where strict health safety measures would apply, the Slovene Press Agency reported.

According to the measures, a ban has been imposed within the quarantine zone on movement of all poultry, poultry products, feathers and poultry by-products. Hunting wild birds is also prohibited.

Slovenia's Veterinary Administration received a report late on Saturday that a mute swan, which was found dead early on Thursday near Maribor, was infected with the H5 strain of the bird flu virus.

Tissue samples from the swan were sent to the National Veterinary Institute, which confirmed the presence of the virus. The samples were also sent to the EU's laboratory in Britain's Weybridge for further tests.

Further measures would be taken, depending on the developments, said the reports, adding that all measures are effective immediately and are already being carried out.

Source: Xinhua