BRUSSELS, Oct 19: Russia, China and Romania confirmed new outbreaks of potentially lethal bird flu on Wednesday, fuelling fears of a global influenza pandemic as Europe scrambled to contain the virus on its southeastern flank.

Efforts to boost production of anti-flu vaccines multiplied, after Roche announced it would allow others to produce oseltamivir, the anti-flu drug the Swiss giant sells as the patented Tamiflu.

“Experts tell us that a human influenza pandemic is a real possibility, which could happen at any time in the coming years,” said European Union (EU) health commissioner Markos Kyprianou. “We need to plan for this.”

In Moscow, Russia’s agriculture ministry said the H5N1 virus — already detected in Siberia in the summer — had been discovered in the province of Tula, west of the Ural mountains, apparently borne by wild ducks.

The announcement marks the first time the virus has arrived west of the Urals in Russia. Russia has culled hundreds of thousands of fowl and imposed numerous quarantines in a bid to wipe out the virus.

In response the EU announced plans to extend a ban on Russian bird imports from other regions of the vast country. “The exact scope of the decision will be finalized tomorrow (Thursday),” it said in a statement later on Wednesday.

And in Germany, authorities announced country-wide poultry quarantine measures would come into force from Saturday in response to the Russian outbreak.

Europe’s jitters about bird flu were triggered by the confirmation last week that Turkey and Romania have cases of the H5N1 strain of the virus, which has killed more than 60 people in Asia.—AFP