A senior official of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said that the country is ready to deal with any bird flu emergency situation after reports of an outbreak of the disease in neighboring Saudi Arabia, local newspaper Gulf News reported on Monday.

All measures have been taken to ensure preparations to face the worst situation in case of a bird flu outbreak in the UAE, said Majid Al Mansoori, head of the Secretariat of the National Committee for Emergency Response to Bird Flu.

Al Mansoori was quoted as saying that the readiness of the bird flu plan devised by the committee was tested several times by conducting drills and necessary amendments to the plan were made to ensure coordination.

The plan includes surveillance measures as well as emergency responses and quarantine areas have been identified as part of the plan.

According to an official with the UAE bird flu emergency response committee, the country had banned all poultry products from Saudi Arabia when suspicious samples were detected among products imported from the country several days before the announcement of an outbreak of bird flu.

Saudi Arabia's Agriculture Ministry announced on Friday that it had culled over 90,000 birds after deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu was detected at some poultry farms, citing migratory birds as the cause of outbreak.
 
(Xinhua News Agency November 19, 2007)