Two towns in the central Romanian county of Brasov have been placed under bird flu quarantine with authorities checking everybody who leaves or enters Codlea and Dumbravita. Codlea is the second town in the region, after Fagaras, where such a measure was decided after the most recent outburst of the flu.

Two other settlements, Sanpetru and Rotbav, were under scrutiny as suspicions the flu spread there intensified.

And the owner of the Drakom Codlea farm where the virus was first identified in the latest chain of events has been arrested for 24 hours.

Three patients from Codlea – a mother and her two children – have been brought to a Bucharest hospital as they showed symptoms similar to those of the bird flu. But tests showed negative in the case of the mother and one of the children.

The news comes shortly after PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu announced he dismissed the head of the Romanian veterinary authority ANSV Ion Agafitei and his deputy Dan Marcu for showing “criminal irresponsibility” in their activity.

And authorities have been searching for workers of the Drakom farm, which sold H5-infected chicken to various distributors despite they knew about the infection. The workers have fled the hotbed.

The cull of chicken in the towns of Feldioara and Soars as well as the Drakom farm have been continuing.