The outbreak began in the Novosibirsk region early last month and has killed thousands of domestic fowl. The national veterinary service identified the virus last week as the H5N1 strain, which can fatally infect human beings, but no such cases have been reported in Russia.

The same strain has been recorded in a village in the adjacent Altai territory, and Yevgeni Nepoklonov, a deputy head of the veterinary service, said it had now also been found in a village in the Tyumen region, further west.

Domestic fowl also died in the nearby Omsk region, but the strain there had yet to be determined.

The service said: “A quarantine has been imposed on the settlements affected, and necessary measures are being taken to contain the sources of infection.” The Emergency Situations Ministry said the outbreak had killed 2,707 birds, including 325 since Sunday morning. Authorities in all the affected regions have tightened control over poultry farms, disinfecting their workers and checking birds.

The administration of the Novosibirsk region has ordered the killing of 65,000 domestic fowl in all 14 villages affected.

Gennadi Onishchenko, Russia’s chief epidemiologist, sought to assuage public fears during an inspection trip to Novosibirsk yesterday, saying that the outbreak was being contained.

The service said that the virus had apparently been brought by birds migrating from South East Asia. It has swept through poultry in large areas of Asia since 2003, killing tens of millions of birds and at least 60 people. (AP)

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