KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 — The Veterinary Services Department has imposed a ban on the movement of dogs and cats from Sarawak to peninsular Malaysia following an outbreak of rabies in the Serian district of Sarawak.

Its director-general, Datuk Dr Quaza Nizamuddin Hassan Nizam, said the department had also implemented preventive measures and health promotion besides monitoring for cases of dog bite.

The ban on the entry and import of pets from Sarawak to the peninsula was imposed on July 3, he said when contacted by Bernama.

The Sarawak government yesterday declared five villages in the Serian district as rabies-infected and ordered the vaccination of all pet dogs and cats within a 10-km radius of the villages, namely Kampung Kerait, Kampung Paon Rimu, Kampung Paun Rimu Bakung, Kampung Remun and Kampung Lebor.

Three children from the district were infected with rabies and two of them, a six-year-old girl and her four-year-old brother, died at the Sarawak General Hospital in Kuching yesterday. The third victim, a seven-year-old girl, is still at the hospital.

Dr Quaza Nizamuddin said the country had 20,000 doses of anti-rabies vaccine, which was sufficient for cases of dog bite.

"Some 6,000 doses of the vaccine have been sent to Sarawak. There is no issue of a shortage of the vaccine,” he said. — Bernama