Malawi has imposed an immediate ban on importation of livestock products from Tanzania due to the outbreak of Rift Valley Fever, which affects cattle, goats, sheep and pigs.
Malawi's Department for Animal Health and Livestock Development announced in a statement issued Monday that the impoverished southern African country was faced with an impending outbreak of the Rift Valley Fever.
"Reports received from the Ministry of Livestock Development in Tanzania indicate that there is an active outbreak of Rift Valley Fever in that country, which is progressing towards Malawi," the statement said.
The department said presently Malawi did not have the disease but the country was at risk because of its presence in Tanzania.
The department, according to the statement, has suspended the importation of livestock products from Tanzania and other infected countries indefinitely as a preventive and control measure.
It also imposed movement of livestock out of the country's two northern districts of Chitipa and Karonga, which lie on the Malawi-Tanzania border.
The Rift Valley Fever is a livestock disease caused by a virus but human are also susceptible as it can be transmitted from animals to human.
Last year, Malawi imposed an importation ban on all poultry products in the wake of a bird flu threat.