With India confirming its first bird flu infection, Sri Lankan health authorities Sunday pledged to take aggressive measures to prevent the deadly virus from affecting the island country, Daily News reported here on Monday.

Health Ministry Epidemiology Unit Director Nihal Abeysinghe was quoted by the Daily News as saying that they were strengthening their plans to block the virus from entering the country and to detect it at the earliest possible time in the event of an outbreak.

Health authorities requested the public to take all hygienic measures including washing and sterilizing in consuming poultry products, according to the Daily News.

"We advise the public not to bring poultry products from India and we request people who have visited agricultural areas in India to report immediately to health authorities since the virus could spread from many ways other than the consumption of poultry," Abeysinghe said.

The Health Department was carrying out surveillance in all areas and discussed with hospital authorities on providing isolation and intensive care facilities during an outbreak, he added.

Meanwhile, Agriculture and Livestock Department Director S. Amarasekere said that there is a "high risk" of the H5N1 bird flu virus spreading to Sri Lanka from India since most of the migrating birds in Sri Lanka come from the Western parts of India.

Source: Xinhua