Botswana reimposes ban on poultry imports from South Africa over avian flu outbreak

Botswana has banned the importation of live poultry and poultry products from South Africa after an outbreak of avian influenza was detected in commercial farms and compartments in a number of provinces.

The ban, which is effective immediately, according to a government notice issued on Monday, comes almost two months after the Botswana government revised a similar sanction against its neighbor.

Just a week before that, Botswana had banned the import of domesticated and wild birds from South Africa, after the death of around 300 birds at a commercial chicken-layer farm in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg. The samples from the farm tested positive for the H5 strain.

In addition to the ban, Botswana also cancelled all related import permits. However, transportation of fresh poultry products, from other countries moving through South Africa, with a permit remains allowed.

Botswana and other neighbouring countries imposed a similar ban on poultry products from South Africa in 2017 after an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N8 strain of avian flu.