The Ashanti Regional Directorate of Veterinary Services has placed a ban on the movement of poultry and poultry products within and from other regions and districts affected by the Avian Influenza (bird flu).
The move is to help curb the spread of the disease in other parts of the region.

Dr Marlon Mensah, Ashanti Regional Veterinary Director told the Ghana News Agency that so far two farms in the Atwima enclave had been hit by the disease in the Ashanti Region.

A total of 2,350 birds died from the disease in the affected farms while Veterinary officers destroyed over 3,200 birds.

Seven (7) bags of poultry feed and 28 crates of egg were also destroyed in the affected farms.

Dr Mensah, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA), that the bird flu disease was first detected on July 29, this year at a farm in the Atwima Kwanwoma District of the Ashanti Region.

He said the Directorate had intensified its surveillance mechanisms and was assessing the situation on the ground.

“We don’t have any first-hand information, we are only responding to the initial alerts about the disease outbreak”, he stated.

Dr Mensah advised the people in the region to report any unusual deaths of domestic poultry and wild birds to the nearest Veterinary Office for prompt response.

The public should also avoid handling dead birds with bare hands and consume only well-cooked poultry meat and other poultry products.

Dr Mensah urged the public not to panic because the Regional Veterinary Directorate was taking all the necessary steps to contain the outbreak of the disease.

The Atwima enclave, made up of the Atwima Nwabiagya North and South Districts, Atwima Kwanwoma and Atwima Mponua, had the largest concentration of poultry farms in the Ashanti region.

They supply almost all the poultry products in the region and the outbreak of the bird flu disease in the area is a source of worry to many people who depend on the farms for either business or food.