Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia has imposed an indefinite ban on chicken imports from China following the deaths of five people from the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus this year, news reports said Wednesday.

The ban, which has been in place since January 16, would only be lifted once China has been cleared of avian influenza by the World Health Organization, said Malaysian Veterinary Services Department director-general Abdul Aziz Jamaluddin.

He said the government has also frozen chicken imports from Thailand since last year due to the outbreak of the virus in the neighbouring country.

Seven people have contracted bird flu in China this year so far and five have died.

"We cannot take chances," Abdul Aziz was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times daily.

Malaysia suffered an outbreak of bird flu in 2007, believed to be from infected chickens smuggled into the country from Thailand.

There were no human infections reported in the outbreak, but some 5,000 chickens, ducks and other birds were culled in a period of three months before the country was declared free of the virus. (dpa)