As China reported seven new suspected bird
flu outbreaks Wednesday, Premier Wen Jiabao approved several
measures to support the development of the poultry industry at a
standing meeting of the State Council.
Measures included preferential loan, taxation and administrative
fees for poultry breeding, processing and cultivating enterprises
affected by the epidemic, he said.
Wen also called on local governments to do their utmost to boost
farmers' incomes by compensating them for any losses.
New suspected outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu
were reported yesterday in Honghu City, Gong'an County, Songzi City
and Yangxin County in Central China's Hubei Province.
The regions probably tainted by the bird flu virus also include
Heshan District of Yiyang City and Shaodong County in Central
China's Hunan Province and Jiangcheng District of Yangjiang City in
South China's Guangdong Province.
Quarantine measures were imposed and poultry culled in the
affected regions, said sources with the Ministry of Agriculture
(MOA) yesterday.
No human infections have been found in any of the areas touched
by the epidemic, said Ministry of Health spokesman Mao Qun'an.
The Ministry of Health is expected to release a report on its
investigation which focused on the number of people affected and
measures taken, Mao said.
The central government, at the same time, issued a provisional
regulation for the bird flu control fund, asking local governments
to use the money properly.
Internationally, the World Health Organization said that it may
take up to two years to control bird flu among poultry.
During that time, a low chance of people catching the disease
will exist, the WHO noted.
Mike Ryan, WHO's global response coordinator for avian flu, also
said the UN agency plans to send fresh teams to China and Laos,
bringing to about 50 the number of experts deployed in the
field.
In the United States, a bird flu virus was found in a second
Delaware chicken flock, US officials said on Tuesday.
Simultaneously, the Chinese Administration of Industry and
Commerce issued an emergency notice, demanding local
administrations crack down on fake bird flu vaccines.
Sources said fake vaccines killed chickens in Xinle City, North
China's Hebei Province, and were also spotted in Hefei City, East
China's Anhui Province.
In another development, Zhang Mingqing, spokesman with the
Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, called for closer
co-operation between Taiwan and the mainland to curb the spread of
bird flu.
Taiwan so far hasn't reported any cases of the H5N1 bird flu.
But more than 230,000 chickens infected with the milder H5N2
strain, which hasn't jumped to humans, have been culled on the
island.
And forestry authorities have beefed up its efforts to protect
wild birds and prevent the potential spread of the epidemic disease
by migratory birds.
In Beijing, more than 1 million homing pigeons have been
confined to their pens.
(China Daily February 12, 2004)