Ukraine introduced tough steps on Saturday to combat an outbreak of bird flu in the Crimea peninsula, sending troops to patrol exclusion zones around affected areas and ordering the slaughter of all birds in them, Reuters reported. President Viktor Yushchenko and key ministers, addressing an emergency meeting after a variation of the virus was found in five villages, said Interior Ministry troops would be dispatched to the zones. They urged the ex-Soviet state's 47 million people to remain calm and avoid panic. "Quarantine restrictions are being introduced in all villages -- a 3-km (two mile) zone where entry and exit are banned altogether," Agriculture Minister Oleksander Baranivsky told a news conference after the meeting. Movements would be restricted in a further 10-km monitoring zone. All residents of affected villages would be checked and their birds destroyed, he said. "We must ensure that residents are kept informed to avoid all panic," Baranivsky said. "The situation is under control." Baranivsky said laboratory tests in Ukraine confirmed the H5 strain of bird flu had been detected in five villages in the peninsula jutting out into the Black Sea and samples were being sent to Britain and Italy for further study. The country's top veterinary surgeon said the quarantine would remain in force for 21 days.
