The bird flu outbreak in north China's Shanxi Province is under control and the
quarantine of the infected areas has been lifted, reported the
Ministry of Agriculture on Thursday.
No new infections have been discovered during the 21-day
surveillance period after all the poultry and poultry products in
the affected areas in Changzi County of Changzhi City in Shanxi
were treated according to relevant regulations, the ministry
said.
The ministry urged the local veterinary authority to continue to
supervise the area and teach local residents how to protect
themselves against the bird flu virus.
The outbreak was identified on June 17 by the National Avian
Influenza Reference Laboratory after poultry died in some farms in
Changzi County.
Minister of Agriculture Du Qinglin told a national agriculture
conference last Friday that 6 billion poultry and 850 million
livestock have been immunized in China from January to June this
year.
The six cases of bird flu in China's five provinces and regions
in the first half of this year have all been controlled
effectively, and the risk of an epidemic of other animal diseases
has also reduced, the minister said.
Currently, epidemic supervision covers 90 percent of the
country's poultry and livestock, said the minister, noting that it
will cover all poultry and livestock in the second half of this
year.
(Xinhua News Agency July 14, 2006)