Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) announced Monday that it is suspending poultry and egg imports from Malaysia's Selangor with immediate effect.

AVA said in a statement that it has received information on the detection of the H5N1 bird flu virus in kampong chickens in a village in Selangor.

Poultry imports from the disease-free zones of Johor, Malacca, Perak and Negri Sembilan in Malaysia will not be affected.

The impact of the suspension on the poultry and egg supplies in Singapore will be minor as there had been no imports from the five accredited chicken broiler farms in Selangor to Singapore since August 2004 and imports from the only one approved layer farm there account for just 5 percent of total egg imports from Malaysia, according to AVA.

Reiterating that "poultry and poultry products here are safe for consumption," AVA said that it will strengthen surveillance and inspections at the points of entry to keep the city state free from bird flu.

Source: Xinhua