Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao urged governments at all levels to attach greater importance to preventing the bird flu epidemic, during his inspection tour on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 of two affected regions.

Bird flu prevention was a tough job for China, said Wen when visiting Shima Village of Ma'anshan City, east China's Anhui Province, and Shifosi Town of Wuxue City, central China's Hubei Province.

The two places were declared to have, respectively, confirmed and suspected cases of bird flu last Friday.

The conditions for bird raising in most rural areas of China were still backward, which made the prevention work especially difficult, said Wen. He asked officials at all levels to attach greater importance to the disease and reinforce the prevention efforts.

China's central authorities have issued guidelines and a series of policies on avian influenza prevention and local departments should strictly follow and implement them, he said.

Regions with reported bird flu cases should take decisive measures to firmly control the spread of the disease and those with no reported cases should be well prepared for bird flu control.

The premier also urged the strict implementation of compensation for farmers affected by bird flu.

Local governments should conduct public education campaigns about the disease, said Wen. He said it was an important task to prevent human infection of the disease.

Efforts should also go into agricultural production and raising farmers' incomes, he said.

Wen also inspected the local veterinary station during his tour and extended greetings to the veterinarians fighting to control the disease.

So far, confirmed bird flu cases were found in Long'an County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, south China, and Wugang City, Hunan Province, and Wuxue, Hubei. East China's Shanghai City and Anhui Province and south China's Guangdong Province have reported suspected cases.

(Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2004)