While another six previously suspected outbreaks of the deadly
H5N1 bird flu in China were confirmed on Friday, governments at
various levels take stronger measures to prevent the virus from
spreading wider.
Confirmed bird flu cases were spotted in Shilin County and
Xishan District of Kunming in Yunnan Province, Southwest China,
Luoding and Jiedong County in Guangdong Province of South
China.
Meanwhile, suspected cases were also confirmed in Nanhui
District of Shanghai and Jinnan District of Tianjin in the
north.
The National Bird Flu Reference Laboratory also confirmed the
death of several black swans in a wildlife zoo in Shenzhen in
Guangdong was caused by bird flu.
All the outbreaks were brought under control in the localities,
and no new suspected bird flu cases were reported on Friday, said
the ministry.
And some 7,793 people in the bird flu-hit areas, who have had
close contact with the sick poultry, have been put under medical
supervision and 1,288 blood samples and 591 throat samples have
been collected for testing, the Ministry of Health said.
"So far all the reported test results were negative and there
are no suspected or confirmed human bird flu infection reports on
the Chinese mainland," the ministry said.
In Beijing, the municipal government has adopted effective
measures to prevent the import of bird flu virus from other areas
to the capital.
Local authorities vowed on Friday that the poultry products sold
on the Beijing market are safe to eat.
The message was conveyed at a news conference which was
organized by the Information Office of the Beijing municipal
government on Friday.
A total of 27 passages in Beijing were designated by local
authorities to be where animals and animal products are required to
pass through before entering the capital city, said Liu Yaqing,
deputy commander-in-chief of the Beijing Municipal Headquarters on
Prevention and Cure of Serious Animal Epidemics.
However, Cambodia, Indonesia and Laos continue to report new
outbreaks in poultry, the Bangkok-based FAO Regional Office for
Asia and the Pacific quoted a FAO statement as saying.
(China Daily February 14, 2004)