CANBERRA, Australia, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Australian officials have decided to destroy or impound all poultry and eggs on ships from Asian countries affected by bird flu.
The new policy, to be implemented Tuesday, follows heightened fears that the rapidly spreading disease, which has killed at least 12 people and tens of millions of birds in Asia, could reach Australia, the Australian reported Monday.
Five more suspected cases of bird flu were reported in China, raising to 14 the number of areas in the country with the deadly virus.
Also on Sunday, Thailand and Vietnam each confirmed a new human death from the virus, and World Health Organization officials were still debating whether there had been the first human-to-human transmission.
The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service will inspect ships' stores for poultry products on passenger and cargo vessels arriving in Australia from ports in the 10 countries to have reported outbreaks of the disease.
Customs officers will seize the products and either incinerate or bury them, or seal them to be reopened only when the vessels have left Australian waters.
