December 2, 2005

China's Liaoning lifts bird flu quarantine

Local authorities said they have lifted the bird flu quarantine in north-eastern China's Liaoning province.

Liaoning's Heishan county, Beining city, Nanzhan new district of Jinzhou city and Fuxin Mongolian autonomous county were hit by several bird flu outbreaks in November.

However, all the affected areas have not reported any new bird flu cases during the 21-day isolation, which is the longest incubation period for the H5N1 bird flu virus, according to Zhou Liyuan, head of the provincial bird flu control headquarters. Zhou added that no human cases of bird flu were reported as well.

Local chicken sellers, some of whom began selling pork instead when chicken and egg sales were banned in November, welcomed the news.

However, veterinarians would continue to monitor the affected areas, Zhou said.

Provincial authorities have already mobilised over 20,000 veterinarians to help farmers vaccinate more than 300 million poultry.