February 16, 2004

 

 

Thailand Set Two Week Target For Bird Flu Fight

 

Thailand has set a two-week target for the country to be rid of bird flu, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said in his weekly radio address on Saturday.

 

"The bird flu outbreak situation has drastically improved now. All areas have been declared "yellow zones¡¯ and officials will fully implement all measures for 21-day surveillance," he said, referring to monitoring procedures recommended by the United Nations and other international health experts.

 

He promised that authorities would carry out maximum measures to safeguard the country from any renewed outbreaks of the H5N1 virus, which has been detected in poultry in 163 outbreak spots in 40 of Thailand¡¯s 76 provinces.

 

The disease has been confirmed to have killed five people in Thailand and 14 in Vietnam and led to a mass cull in Asia of some 80 million chickens and other fowl, including about 26 million in Thailand.

 

"If we detect any bird flu at any spot we will declare a red zone immediately and take action," Thaksin said. 

 

Bangkok, the final area with an active infection in Thailand, was declared clear of the disease Friday and has been changed to a "yellow zone", in which strict quarantine restrictions are lifted but poultry can only be transported with a government license.

 

Given the 21-day surveillance procedures, Thailand could be declared rid of bird flu on March 5 at the earliest.

 

The country remains in the spotlight, however, with three new human cases of avian influenza reported Thursday and Friday.

 

In the two latest cases, the patients have already recovered and been discharged from hospital, while the other surviving patient is a 13-year-old boy who is in critical condition.

 

Authorities are investigating another 22 cases of suspected infections including nine people who have died.  Uttaradit province governor Preecha Butsri, said Saturday that fresh bird flu outbreaks had hit seven villages in the northern province.

 

But a senior Uttaradit livestock department official rejected the report outright, saying the two outbreak areas in the province had already finished their culling and had been declared a yellow zone February 8.

 

"Since then there has been no new outbreak," the official said.

 

The governor was in Laos Saturday and could not be reached for comment.