January 22, 2009

China is beefing up the monitoring and management of live poultry markets after four human bird flu cases were reported within a month.

The ministries of health, agriculture and the State Administration of Industry and Commerce have urged local agencies to work closely in supervising and managing poultry markets to prevent bird flu from spreading any further.

Local offices must maintain a 24-hour on-spot supervision of the markets, and emergency response, epidemiological investigation, epidemic source tracing and quarantine must be carried out once bird flu or suspect bird flu cases are spotted, the ministries said.

Localities were urged to close live poultry markets within the urban areas and disinfect the markets everyday if they could not be shut down.

Three people have of bird flu and another has been infected in China so far this year. China warned that it may be more difficult to prevent the spread of the disease in face of a mass migration, mostly of migrant workers and students, for the traditional Spring Festival that falls on January 26.

East China's Shandong Province has also banned raising poultry in urban areas and protected water areas after a woman died of bird flu, the second case out of the three.