The government has barred the local media from publishing any stories pertaining to a case of avian influenza, or commonly known as bird flu, which was detected in Kelantan yesterday.

The directive from the Prime Minister's Department was relayed to the media via the national news agency Bernama at 10.13pm last night.

'The Prime Minister's Department has directed the media not to use any story relating to the 'so-called' bird flu case in the country' read the 'Urgent note to editors'.

Despite the directive, several major dailies carried the report that a newly discovered H5 strain of avian influenza had been discovered in Kelantan.

The major newspapers that published the story were the New Straits Times, Berita Harian, Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Daily.

It is learnt that some of the dailies had planned to publish the report on their frontpages but the decision was reversed following the directive.

Unclear directive

An editor with a Chinese daily said the directive led to the paper having two different frontpage stories.

"We had no choice because we had already printed the story and copies had already been delivered to other states when we received the directive late last night.

"However, we removed the story immediately and replaced it with another one for our Klang Valley edition," said the editor, who declined to be named.

The editor also complained that the directive was not clear and lacked proper explanation thus leading to some newspapers publishing the report.

A journalist with another vernacular daily, meanwhile, said his editorial department received a call from Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's aides telling them to retract the story.

"The story was initially slated for the frontpage because this is an issue of public concern, but we had to abide by the directive," said the journalist.

When contacted, Abdullah's press secretary Teoh Ai Hua refused to elaborate on the directive but said the Prime Minister's Department would issue a clarification later.

Soon after, in the clarification, carried by state-owned Bernama at 2.40pm today, PM's Department denied directing the media not to report the matter.

"The Prime Minister's Department today said that the advisory to editors issued by Bernama last night attributed to the department not to use any story relating to bird flu in Malaysia was incorrect.

"In a statement issued by its Communication Unit, the department denied directing the media to that effect," said Bernama.

Further tests

According to a Bernama report yesterday - prior to the issuing of the directive - the potentially deadly H5 strain of the avian influenza was found on a farm in Kampung Baru Pasir Pekan near Kota Baru.

Director-General of Veterinary Services Dr Hawari Hussein said the Ipoh-based Veterinary Research Institute had confirmed that the death of chickens there was due to the H5 virus.

He added that Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) was carrying out further testing at its veterinary lab to determine whether the virus detected at the village was of the N1 or N2 type.

"If it is just H5 virus, it is not dangerous to humans, but if is of N1 or N2, it can cause death," he was quoted as saying.

Hawari said authorities have quarantined the village and its surrounding areas over a radius of 10km to prevent the smuggling of poultry or birds out of the affected area.

Kelantan director of veterinary services Dr Idris Kadir told Bernama that the department stumbled upon the discovery during a routine check on the village.

The checks were conducted following reports that chickens in Narathiwat, Thailand had been infected by the virus.

Narathiwat is located 100km from Kampung Baru Pasir Pekan and the two are connected by river and road.

Following this latest development, Singapore has suspended all imports of poultry or poultry products from Malaysia.

The H5NI strain has so far killed 27 people across Asia this year, 19 of them in Vietnam. Avian flu is spread through direct contact with infected live poultry.