The new bird flu-hit countries are the UK, Georgia, Burkina Faso, Czech Republic, Palestine, Israel, and Philippines.

"As the countries are affected by bird flue, we have urged the commerce ministry to scrutinise the countries at risk to ban poultry imports," said Fisheries and Livestock Minister Abdulla Al Noman yesterday while addressing a seminar on 'Bird Flu and Strategy for Control' in Dhaka.

Earlier, Bangladesh had banned poultry imports from 49 bird flu-hit countries, including India, as a precaution and asked the border guards to crack down on smuggling of birds.

Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) and Agribusiness Development Organisation of Bangladesh (ADOB) jointly organised the seminar. It was addressed, among others, by Abdur Razzak, MP, MA Momen, president of the DCCI, Fakhrul Islam Munshi, president of the ADOB, Iqbal Dada, managing director of MM Agha Ltd, Deepak Adhikary, deputy general manager of SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility (SEDF), and representatives from agribusiness industry.

Speaking at the seminar, poultry industry stakeholders have urged the government to formulate a bird flue policy to protect the poultry sector from endemic bird flue.

They alleged some businessmen are still importing chicks from India through illegal channels.

According to the stakeholders, there are about 150,000 poultry farms in the country with an annual turnover of $750million.

"Keeping this growing trend of the poultry industry in mind, the government should take immediate measures to check poultry imports from India," said Kazi Zahidul Haque, managing director of Kazi Firms Ltd, one of the largest poultry units of the country.

The government initiatives taken so far are not enough to check bird flu or H5N1 avian flu virus, said Abdur Razzak MP.

He urged the government to form a national taskforce immediately.