BRUSSELS, Belgium -- European Union officials have imposed a temporary ban on imports of live poultry, game and feathers from Croatia after at least six swans died there from bird flu.EU veterinary experts on Tuesday are expected to endorse the ban -- as well as a proposed temporary ban on imports of exotic birds for sale as pets into the 25-nation bloc, spokesman Philip Tod said.Even before the decision on Croatia was announced Monday, Zagreb had said it would halt all exports of poultry and feathers, The Associated Press reported. The EU ban does not cover imports of poultry meat from Croatia. Samples from Croatia were still being tested to determine if the virus found there was the deadly H5N1 strain, AP said. The swans landed in Croatia recently, but it is not known where they migrated from. Thirteen more swans have been found dead nearby. (Full story)The proposed EU ban on exotic birds comes after Britain confirmed that a parrot died in quarantine of the same H5N1 strain of bird flu that has devastated poultry stocks and killed more than 60 people in Asia."It is important to at least have a temporary ban in place," EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said at a joint news conference with British Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett, whose country holds the EU presidency."It will give us some time to assess the risk. Then we can decide whether to extend these measures or amend them," The Associated Press quoted him as saying.The parrot is the first confirmed case of bird flu in Britain since 1992, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said.The bird, from Suriname in South America, was almost certainly infected with the deadly strain by a bird from Taiwan, said Britain's chief veterinary officer, Dr. Debby Reynolds.The two separate bird consignments were kept in the same quarantine compound in Essex, sharing the same "airspace." Reynolds said it was likely that the parrot had contracted the disease in the UK.Asked if she considered placing the birds together to be a mistake, she told the UK's Press Association: "The process of putting consignments together is something that we obviously need to review."Because the bird was in quarantine, the UK's disease-free status is still in place, Reynolds said.Suriname, which sits on South America's northeast coast, has not reported the lethal H5N1 strain, according to the World Organization for Animal Health.The bird was one of 148 parrots and "soft bills" that arrived in Britain on September 16 for display and for collectors. Another parrot also died, but Reynolds said she did not know the cause.Dispelling concerns, Ron Cutler, a bird authority at the University of East London, said the finding shows the "British quarantine system is working effectively."Outbreak in RussiaAlso Monday, another region in European Russia, Tambov, located 400 km (250 miles) southeast of Moscow, has confirmed an outbreak of the same deadly bird flu strain, a senior regional animal health official said."Laboratory tests have confirmed the presence of the H5N1 strain ... in some dead fowl tissue samples," the official told Reuters.He said the disease killed 12 hens at a private dacha in Morshansk district last week, after which local veterinary authorities destroyed 53 ducks and hens remaining in the locality, and imposed a quarantine on it.Since emerging in South Korea in late 2003, H5N1 has spread as far west as European Russia, Turkey and Romania, tracking the paths of migratory birds.Moscow confirmed last Wednesday an outbreak of H5N1 in the Tula region, some 200 km (125 miles) south of the Russian capital.Russia has been fighting bird flu since mid-July and has killed more than 600,000 domestic fowl.The latest person to have tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain was a 7-year-old boy in Thailand whose father recently died from the virus.Hospital officials say the boy, who apparently helped his father slaughter and cook a chicken, is expected to recover.Most of the human deaths have been linked to contact with sick birds. But experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that could be transmitted between humans, triggering a global pandemic.As the scare over bird flu intensifies, Europe and Asia are ordering clampdowns on the movements of birds and people.Hong Kong's border with China, one of Asia's busiest, might be sealed if the deadly H5N1 bird flu starts spreading from human to human, according to the South China Morning Post newspaper.The H5N1 strain first surfaced in Hong Kong in 1997, then re-emerged in 2003 in South Korea, before spreading to Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, China, Indonesia, Cambodia, Russia and Europe.Hong Kong has been a hotbed of virus alerts in recent years, including the outbreak of the SARS disease in 2003, which killed almost 300 people there. (Full story)The H5N1 bird flu strain also infected 18 people in Hong Kong in 1997, six of whom died.Consequently, Hong Kong's entire poultry population, estimated at around 1.5 million birds, was destroyed within three days. This is thought to have averted a pandemic.In Europe, the EU has placed restrictions on bird markets and shows while urging nations to vaccinate zoo birds as part of increased measures to head off the spread of the disease.Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.