(MENAFN) The Philippines' Department of Agriculture announced on Monday a temporary suspension of imports of wild and domestic birds from Belgium following a reported outbreak of avian influenza in the European nation.

According to the department's press office, the ban also extends to avian-related products such as poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs, and semen.

However, shipments from Belgium that were already in transit, loaded, or accepted at port prior to the formal announcement of the ban will be permitted entry, provided the items were slaughtered or produced before February 3.

Any shipments failing to meet these conditions will either be returned to Belgium, redirected to a third country, or confiscated and destroyed. Veterinary quarantine officers have been directed to seize all non-compliant shipments, with the exception of heat-treated products.

Belgian authorities had earlier notified the World Organization for Animal Health about an outbreak of H5N1 High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza in Sint-Niklaas, Oost-Vlaanderen, Vlaanderen. The presence of the virus was confirmed in domestic birds on February 17.

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