The quarantine was lifted from a bird flu-hit city in north China's Shanxi Province on Friday after a 21-day isolation and monitoring period, local health authority announced.

With the ending of the quarantine in the city of Xiaoyi, all animal disinfection stations at municipal, township and village levels were removed.

Local poultry product markets were reopened as of Friday after the three-week shutdown since Nov. 18, said Han Guangyong, deputy head of the municipal headquarters for the bird flu prevention and control.

However, all henneries within the former quarantined area will not be qualified for fowl raising until they survive a 6-month sanitation test, according to the local epidemic prevention authority.

More than 8,000 chickens raised in Gaoyang Town of Xiaoyi City died by Nov. 10. The cause was diagnosed by the national bird flu lab as the H5N1 highly pathogenic bird flu a week later.

No new cases were reported during the quarantine period before the Ministry of Agriculture officially approved the lifting of the quarantine Thursday, according to disease prevention authorities.

(Xinhua News Agency December 9, 2005)