Despite the fact that no new bird flu cases were reported across
the country in the past days, Vice Premier Hui Liangyu said
Thursday there is still a chance of new cases or even human
transmission.
That's due to the outbreaks in surrounding countries and the
large number of wild birds migrating and carrying the virus north
with them.
In addition, 60 percent of China's 13.2 billion chickens are
raised in small farms where it is not uncommon for them to live in
close quarters with domestic animals and people. In addition,
quarantine conditions in many places are not as strict as they
should be.
Hui spoke about the country's bird flu situation during
Thursday's seventh session of the Standing Committee of the 10th
National People's Congress.
The Chinese government, he said, has approved a veterinarian
bureau and a chief veterinarian system to be set up by the Ministry
of Agriculture.
At the same time, the country will give support to large scale
poultry farms and encourage the adoption of modern methods in
raising poultry, Hui said.
Also Thursday, isolation of six bird flu epidemic areas was
ended, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
The areas include the Chenggong County of Kunming, capital of
southwest China's Yunnan Province, Ezhou and Wuxue in central
China's Hubei Province, the Guangde County, Jieshou and Yingzhou
District in Huyang in east China's Anhui Province, Xinhua News
Agency reported.
In another development, inspection and quarantine departments in
China were called upon to thoroughly check export-oriented avian
meat manufacturers and poultry farms to ensure that exported avian
products are safe, China Central Television (CCTV) reported.
Avian meat companies will be checked to see whether the bird flu
virus can be found within a 50-kilometer radius and whether they
have established effective quarantine systems.
The farms were also required to prevent birds and rats from
coming into contact with the chickens.
The Certification and Accreditation Administration will force
companies that do not meet standards to catch up quickly, reported
CCTV.
The administration will suspend export certificates for
companies that fail to improve their conditions.
By Wednesday, 16 provinces, autonomous regions and
municipalities had reported 52 bird flu cases, of which 49 have
been confirmed. A total of 143,000 chickens have caught the virus
and 128,000 of them have died.
To prevent bird flu from spreading, more than 8.5 million
poultry had been slaughtered by Wednesday and more than 12 million
were quarantined.
The central government has attached great importance to the
control of bird flu, the report said. Efforts include the
allocation of 100 million yuan (US$12 million) for research on
prevention and control.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Organization
of Food and Agriculture (FAO) has approved an urgent technical
cooperative project to help China conduct interchanges between
experts on bird flu.
China's Ministry of Agriculture has, jointly with FAO and the
World Health Organization, established information system on
epidemic situation.
China has provided countries like Viet Nam and Thailand with
US$450,000 for emergency aid and the Ministry of Agriculture has
recently offered Viet Nam aid materials worth of 200,000 yuan
(US$24,000), which include exposure suits and gloves, according to
the ministry.
(China Daily February 27, 2004)