Downing Street Says » Avian Flu

» Monday, February 12, 2007

Avian Flu

As no question had been asked, the PMOS let Lobby know that David Miliband would be holding a meeting this afternoon with senior officials, veterinary representatives, and representatives of the agencies. Priority number one would be to go over the process of how we had so far contained the disease. Secondly, to find out how the investigation was going into the root causes of the outbreak. And thirdly to liaise about the protection of public health, precisely the role that the Food Standards Agency was set up to achieve.

Asked for a comment on how he thought the Bird Flu crisis had been handled, and whether information was put out into the public domain quickly enough, the PMOS replied that we should deal with the facts, not the speculation. The facts were that in terms of containment, so far, the disease had been contained. Nobody took anything for granted, but so far this had been the case. Secondly, there was now an investigation going on into the root causes. Thirdly, the Government was being led solely by the scientific evidence and scientific advice.

Asked to be more specific about who the Environment Secretary was meeting this afternoon, the PMOS replied that it was people from the Health Protection Agencies, the Veterinary Service and his officials. The department could fill in on the detail.

Asked if COBRAs were still being held on Bird Flu, the PMOS replied that he was not aware of any COBRA meetings.

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