The Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation banned Tuesday poultry imports from Germany and France after the outbreak of a new wave of bird flu in the two countries.

The veterinary quarantine authorities at Cairo Airport issued a circular on this score, copies of which were handed over to air freight companies.

The German airlines Lufthansa started to enact the ban. The company blocked the freight of a large cargo of chickens from Germany intended for Egypt.

In statements, Fattouh Moustafa Darwish, an Agriculture Ministry official, said that all measures were taken to ban poultry imports from bird flu-stricken countries.