Augustine Fonka Awa, governor of the West region, has banned the sale of chicken in Noun division following the resurgence of bird flu in the region.

A source at the ministry of livestock, fisheries and animal husbandry told APA news agency that the ban came after a Yaounde veterinary laboratory carried out a series of tests on samples of dead chickens from Foumbot. The samples, according to the source, were selected from some 25,000 chickens that were slaughtered in a poultry farm in Foumbot last week. The killing of the chicken came after the flu was detected in two poultries in the locality.

Foumbot, it should be note, is one of the highest producer of chicken in Cameroon while the West region as a whole is number one producing region. It is the third time this region is facing a bird flu epidemic in less than one year. Poultry owners declared losses of circa 16billion FCFA in the previous epidemic which struck in May 2016.

Besides the governor’s ban on the commercialisation of chicken, government has also taken measure to ensure the disinfestation of poultry farms in the region to prevent the virus from spreading.