The bird flu epidemic that has killed 20 people across Asia and afflicted millions of chickens is unlikely to be curtailed within the next month or so, the World Health Organization said today.
"Based on our experience in Vietnam and Thailand, we still have concerns that the outbreak is not going to be contained in the next one or two months," Mr Kumara Rai, of the WHO's southeast Asia office told reporters in New Delhi.
He was speaking after an emergency meeting in the Indian capital of top health and agricultural officials from the seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
The meeting discussed regional cooperation to fight the spread of the disease - a mild strain of which has already been reported in Pakistan - and reaffirmed a ban on poultry imports but did not come up with new steps.
The grouping also includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
The bird flu, or avian flu virus, has killed at least 14 people in Vietnam and six in Thailand. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has said it could take months, even a couple of years, to be sure the virus was no longer a threat.