Egyptian Agriculture and Land Reclamation Minister Amin Abaza said Saturday that a number of international organizations voiced full readiness to offer financial and technical aid to Egypt to prevent the spread of bird flu.

At a news conference, Abaza said a number of technical committees from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), the EU and others were currently in Egypt to coordinate and cooperate with Egyptian authorities.

He called on the public to stop raising domestic poultry.

For his part, Ahmed Tawfik, the head of veterinary services in Egypt, assured the public that farm chickens, if infected, would not in anyway be able to reach consumers because they would not be able to outlive the disease.

Also they would not be able to produce eggs, he added.