Isolation ends in China's last two bird flu-hit areas
By (Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-03-16 16:07

China's Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) announced Tuesday morning the ending of isolation in the last two bird flu-hit areas, thus calling an end to the 49-day campaign over the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu.

Jia Youling, MOA spokesman for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) control confirmed at a press conference the removal of isolation in Nanning of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Lhasa of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

China has stamped out all the 49 bird flu cases since the first one was confirmed in Dingdang Town, Guangxi's Long'an county on Jan. 27.

China controlled the bird flu in a short period thanks to the rigorous measures the country took in the battle against the epidemic, said Jia.

While mass culling was strictly conducted, compulsory vaccination was also introduced in the bird flu-hit areas, Jia added.

"So the epidemic did not spread to other areas outside of the bird flu-hit spots," the spokesman said.

Jia said the cover-up of bird flu outbreak was strictly prohibited by the country's law on animal epidemic prevention and violators would face severe punishment.

To effectively control the epidemic, the ministry dispatched 210 experts to the 16 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities which reported bird flu cases to supervise the prevention work.

The spokesman said that the ministry also received effective supervision from the society and the people in the battle against the epidemic.

Hotlines for the reporting of suspected bird flu cases were launched during the campaign and the ministry was committed to the reporting mechanism, Jia said.

Jia attributed effective control of the bird flu in China to the efforts focused on preventing from human infection rather than economic losses and to adoption of international practices and stricter measures.

However, Jia said the situation in bird flu prevention and control is still grave, though the country lifted cordons in all the infected areas.

China will build an effective and long-term epizootic prevention mechanism in order to enhance the overall control capacity across the country, he added.

China raises 13.2 billion poultry a year, including 2.9 billion to 3 billion water fouls, which are vulnerable to epidemic attack, said Jia.

Under the assistance of FAO, WHO and other international organizations, China has made good cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in H5N1 strain of avian flu prevention and control, said Jia.

China has participated in FAO's project of Northeast Asia bird flu prevention laboratory diagnosis and surveillance joint network, which also includes such countries as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Mongolia, said Jia.

China has also participated in FAO's emergency assistance project of Southeast Asia bird flu prevention regional cooperation, said Jia.

China's Ministry of Commerce has provided 450,000 US dollars for the six countries of ASEAN, including Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. China's Ministry of Agriculture has provided bird flu prevention materials to Vietnam and Thailand, Jia said.

China has promised to ASEAN to open the state bird flu reference laboratory and help them to train technicians, which has been ongoing under the assistance of FAO, Jia said.

ASEAN countries will provide virus strains and gene sequence to China. And China has provided four bird flu living virus strains to the WHO, which have been separated in Hong Kong and will be helpful for the vaccine production for human health, said Jia.

China has cooperated with ASEAN to establish the joint epidemic situation reporting and technical cooperation systems, said Jia.

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