Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, February 23, 2004
China lifts isolation of two bird flu affected areas
The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture said in Beijing on Feb. 23 that the bird flu outbreak in Nanhui District of Shanghai municipality and Yongkang city of Zhejiang province had ended and these two areas in east China were no longer in isolation.
The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture said in Beijing on Feb. 23 that the bird flu outbreak in Nanhui District of Shanghai municipality and Yongkang city of Zhejiang province had ended and these two areas in east China were no longer in isolation.
Jia Youling, an avian influenza control spokesman for the ministry, said no new bird flu cases had been spotted or confirmed for 21 successive days since the last poultry in the affected areas was culled as stipulated.
The outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu strain was reported on Jan. 29 in Shanghai and on Jan. 31 in Zhejiang.
Experts who had been dispatched to assess the outcome control efforts concluded that they found in the two places that the disease had been eradicated and the areas met the requirements for being removed from isolation as stipulated in the Emergency Countermeasures Against Avian Influenza of China and the Technical Standards Regarding the Fight Against Avian Influenza.
The Ministry of Agriculture urged local organizations to continue supervision over animal quarantine to prevent the occurrence of new bird flu cases.
The ministry had received no reports of new suspected or confirmed avian influenza cases in China Monday, said spokesman Jia.