Namibia’s Ministry of Agriculture, water and land reform and Botswana’s Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security have temporarily suspended the import and in-transit movement of live poultry and their raw products from South Africa due to a recent avian flu outbreak.
According to a Reuters report, South Africa said on Tuesday that around 300 birds had died of avian flu at a commercial chicken-layer farm in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, with samples from the farm testing positive for the H5 strain.
“After an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N8 strain of avian flu in 2017, which saw poultry farmers culling millions of birds, neighbouring countries - including Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana - banned poultry imports from South Africa,” the report read.