Malaysia bans import of Thai chickens - paper

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia has temporarily frozen the importation of chickens from Thailand because of fears over bird flu cases in its Southeast Asian neighbour, a Malaysian newspaper reported on Saturday.

Agriculture Minister Mustapa Mohamed said the ban would be lifted when the situation in Thailand returned to normal.

"Operations to prevent chicken smuggling at border areas have to be beefed up," Mustapa was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times newspaper.

On Thursday, Thailand confirmed its second bird flu case in a week, saying the virus had been detected in a rural district north of Bangkok. It was the fourth case of the deadly virus found in Thailand in 10 months.

The H5N1 virus has killed 17 people in Thailand since 2003 and 245 people in total out of 387 confirmed infected around the world, according to the World Health Organisation. It is endemic in poultry in parts of Asia.

Scientists fear the H5N1 virus could mutate into a form that could spread easily among humans and kill millions of people.