Seven people who were tested for bird flu after an outbreak in poultry near their homes do not have the deadly disease, a government minister said late yesterday.

Ten people from villages hit by the deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza were hospitalised late Tuesday complaining of flu symptoms and respiratory problems, Health Minister Chua Soi Lek told a news conference.

Two adults and five children from several households were undergoing tests while three others were discharged after showing signs of recovery, he said.

All had been living within 300 metres of the centre of the outbreak in Gombak, just north of the capital, and had contact with affected chickens, he said.

"From the cases that were referred, seven cases were admitted to the ward so that testing and treatment can be conducted," said Chua.

The test results on five of them proved negative, Chua was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency late Wednesday.

Only five samples were sent to the lab on Tuesday, Ramlee Rahmat, director of the Health Ministry's Disease Control Division told AFP . He said the other two cases could have shown signs of recovery and had not required bird flu tests.

An eyewitness at an affected village later told AFP that four more people were taken to hospital on Wednesday with bird-flu-like symptoms. Ramlee confirmed that one had been admitted for observation.

The government on Monday confirmed the outbreak of avian influenza after 40 chickens died in four villages just outside Kuala Lumpur. More than 836 birds have subsequently been slaughtered and 455 eggs destroyed in a bid to prevent the outbreak spreading, officials said.

Quarantine area widen

Officials yesterday widened a quarantine area around the villages to include the Petronas Twin Towers, the world's second tallest building.

The area within a 10-kilometre radius of the affected villages, which includes the National Zoo as well as the towers, was being monitored for dead birds.

"The 10-kilometre radius is the quarantine area where we will do surveillance to ensure the area is free from bird flu," said Mustapa Abdul Jalil, acting director general of the Veterinary Services Department.

"If there are no new cases within 21 days from the start of the culling (Feb 21) then we have successfully eliminated the disease," he said adding that he believed the outbreak was "an isolated case" and there was "no cause for panic."

Health officials believe fighting cocks smuggled in from neighbouring countries could have been the source of the outbreak.

No new poultry deaths had been reported at the villages, he said adding that authorities believed they had killed all remaining birds in the quarantine area.

"Surveillance and checks are being conducted at farms around the country. So far no signs of infection have been detected. All poultry and eggs on the market are safe for consumption," he added.

Neighbouring Singapore, the biggest market for Malaysian poultry, has suspended poultry and egg imports from central Selangor state, which surrounds the capital.

Malaysia's last H5N1 outbreak was in late 2004 in a village in northern Kelantan state.

The H5N1 strain has claimed at least 90 mostly Asian lives since late 2003 and has spread to Africa and Europe. So far, there have been no human deaths in Malaysia from the virus.