Malaysia yesterday declared that it has been free, effective on Wednesday, from the bird flu, which resurfaced early this year.

Malaysian Agriculture and Agro-Based Industries Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said that the declaration was made based on the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) standard and the result of monitoring.

Three months has passed after the last case of the disease was found in the country this year, he told reporters at Putrajaya, the administrative center of the Malaysian government.

Based on the OIE standard, Malaysia is declared free from the bird flu, he said, adding that a related report was sent to the OIE on Monday.

The Malaysian government confirmed the first case of H5N1-type bird flu in the country on February 20 this year, which was detected at villages near Kuala Lumpur, followed by the second in its northern state of Perak on March 16.

The last cases were the virus detected in birds and chickens inPerak on March 21.

Although the country has been relieved from the disease, Muhyiddin said, the precautionary measures must be kept since the neighboring countries were still not free from the disease.

The measures included ban on imports of fowls and related products from the affected countries, strict checks at the border checkpoints, implementations of the rules that force the poultry industry in the country to raise fowls in a closed environment.

The Malaysian agriculture minister hoped that exports of Malaysia's poultry industry could be revived after the bird flu left the country.

Malaysia also once declared that it was free from the bird flu last year.