A suspected case of bird flu in Greece has proved negative, according to laboratory tests.
The European Union's executive commission, which ran preliminary tests to check for presence of the bird flu virus in Greece announced that the results of the tests do not prove the presence of the virus.
At this point we cannot exclude the presence of avian flu in Greece and in the area," Commission spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen said.
The preliminary test on the suspected sample "proved negative", she said but added that "further tests are required".
"Therefore, precautionary measures remain in place," she said
The results come as EU health ministers meet today to discuss how best to prepare for a bird flu pandemic. European Commissioner for Health Markos Kyprianou is attending the informal two-day conference in England.
Yesterday, the Health Protection Agency said it was co-ordinating an EU-wide simulation exercise to see how well organisations would cope in the event of a flu pandemic.
Officials in command centres across Europe will react to imaginary scenarios, fed to them through the EU's Early Warning and Response System and via EU-wide teleconferences.
Dates and details of the exercise are not being announced to make it as realistic as possible.
About 120 people worldwide have been diagnosed with the H5N1 strain since 2003, leading to 60 deaths. Experts predict between two million and 50 million people could die globally in a flu pandemic.