Riyadh, Muharram 12, 1439, Oct 2, 2017, SPA -- The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture announced here today lifting temporary ban on importation of live birds, hatching eggs and chickens from six countries, due to the risk of highly pathogenic avian influenza. Director General of the Department of Animal Risk Assessment, at the ministry Dr. Sanad al-Harbi said that the ministry has lifted the ban on importing the aforementioned items from Nepal, India, Hungary, Spain, Bulgaria and Croatia. Al-Harbi added that the lifting of the ban was based on reports from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), which included registration of new hot spots for bird flu, in the past three months, in these named 6 countries. -- SPA 22:19 LOCAL TIME 19:19 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w503018