February 23, 2004

Shanghai Ready To Remove Quarantine Order At Bird Flu Farm

China's bird flu crisis seems to be under control as Shanghai prepares to lift a quarantine on a farm where its first bird flu case was found, the city government said Monday.

Health authorities plan to release 17 people who were quarantined at the farm after ducks were found dead from the H5N1 flu, said a notice on the city government Web site.

"Relevant authorities will hold a ceremony to announce the end of the quarantine in the afternoon after the data is checked and accepted by officials from the agriculture department," the notice said.

The quarantine was imposed Feb. 3 after ducks were found dead at the farm in the Nanhui district. Tests showed later the birds were infected with avian flu.

Chinese farm officials Sunday lifted a quarantine on a village in the southern region of Guangxi where the country's first case of avian flu was found.

The government said the outbreak was coming under control after five straight days of no new reports of the virus, which has killed millions of fowl and at least 22 people in Asia.

Shanghai officials slaughtered 35,000 fowl found within three kilometers of the infected farm.

Nationwide, the government slaughtered 1.2 million chickens, ducks and other birds in recent weeks in an effort to contain the disease.