October 31, 2005

Bird flu teams ensure Beijing's wild poultry ban
 

Bird-flu prevention teams were fanning out across China's capital to ensure no wild birds were being sold at the city's markets, a newspaper reported Sunday.

One spot check of a market in south-western Beijing Saturday found 182 wild birds being sold against regulations, the newspaper Beijing News reported. They were taken to the city's wild animal centre and quarantined, it said.

Beijing has banned the sale of wild birds, since it cannot guarantee they haven't come from bird-flu infected areas of the country.

China has reported no human cases of bird flu but has warned that without better precautions, the disease could spread from poultry to people.

Markets were still permitted to sell live domesticated poultry. At Beijing's largest live poultry market-the Yuegezhuang Wholesale Market-special teams were disinfecting the site three times a day and checking the health of its 150 staff, the Beijing News said.