DHAKA, Jan 22: The government of Bangladesh has imposed a ban on import of one-day-old poultry-parent stocks from a number of south and southeast Asian countries until March 15, against the backdrop of a bird-flu outbreak in those countries.

Poultry owners have been asked to inform the authorities immediately should there be any clinical symptom of the disease at their farms.

Bangladesh is a major importer of poultry-parent stock in South Asia. According to a livestock directorate source, different poultry farms imported 344,676 pieces of layer and 2,274,902 pieces of broiler last year.