The government today said it had increased bird flu surveillance measures in response to new eruptions of the deadly avian influenza virus in neighbouring Thailand and Indonesia.

"Developments in neighbouring Thailand and Indonesia have prompted us to beef up patrols at border points and enforcement in terms of smuggling," Agriculture Minister Muhyiddin Yassin told reporters.

"We are also stepping up on our preparations in the event that a bird flu outbreak happens again," he said.

However, he added that "I don't think we have anything to worry about - so far we are still free (from the disease)."

Indonesia this month announced its first human deaths from the virus, and admitted it should have culled more infected poultry to stem the disease. And in Thailand, the virus was found again in chickens and fighting cocks.

Muhyiddin appealed to countries that have stopped importing poultry products from Malaysia to resume their purchases, saying that the country's poultry meat was safe.

"We are looking for ways to convince those countries that we are truly bird-flu free," he said.

"We have announced that we are free from the disease but they still do not want to resume imports. This is a loss for us. The question of them being fearful or worried that our protocol does not comply with international protocol should not arise," he said.

Spread by cocks

The minister said the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) had recognised Malaysia's methods in tackling the bird flu outbreak as transparent.

Malaysia's first case of the H5N1 strain of bird flu was detected in a village in Kelantan in August. There has been no known transmission of the virus to humans in Malaysia.

Malaysia declared itself free from bird flu early this year after health and veterinary officials struggled to control the deadly disease and placed the state under quarantine.

Officials say the disease was first brought into Malaysia by fighting cocks that had been exposed to the virus in Thailand, and that further outbreaks were caused by the continued smuggling of chicken meat.