China's Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) announced that the
quarantine has been lifted in all areas affected by the avian flu
on the Chinese mainland after a no-go zone in southwest China was
declared safe by local government earlier on Friday.
Citing a report from the Guizhou provincial government, the
ministry said quarantine was lifted on Friday morning in a bird
flu-hit area in southwestern Guizhou Province after all live birds
had been culled and no new cases of infections had been reported in
the last 21 days.
This was the last no-go zone to have been given the all-clear.
Prior to this, quarantine had already been lifted on 32 of the 33
affected areas on the mainland. But the ministry for caution
against any possible new outbreaks in the coming months.
A ministry official said 33 counties or districts in 26
prefectures or cities in 14 provincial areas had been hit by the
disease since last year.
With the MOA's approval, Wudang district in the provincial
capital Guiyang was lifted of a three-week quarantine at 8:00
AM.
The district was put under quarantine following an H5N1 avian
influenza outbreak among quails on January 6. The local live fowl
market was closed, all sick birds culled and local chicken farms
sterilized.
(Xinhua News Agency January 28, 2006)