February 26, 2004

China Lifts Bird Flu Quarantines In Four Areas

China on Wednesday lifted quarantines over four areas where bird flu was detected, saying no new infections had been found for 21 days as rules required, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Agriculture officials ruled bird flu had been eradicated in those areas following the slaughter of tens of thousands of birds suspected of carrying the H5N1 bird virus, Xinhua said.

That follows the lifting of quarantines over farms in Shanghai and the southern region of Guangxi, where China discovered its first case of the virus. The outbreak spread across Asia, killing 22 people and forcing the slaughter of millions of chickens.

China says it has found no cases of human infection, although the World Health Organization has said some cases might have gone unreported given the scale of the disease,s spread in the country.

Wednesday,s order lifted isolation over farms in Jiedong county in the southern province of Guangdong; Wugang in the central province of Hunan; Yushan in the eastern province of Anhui and the No. 12 Agricultural Division in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.

Despite ending some quarantines, China on Tuesday confirmed a flu case in poultry in the southwestern province of Yunnan, upgrading it from a suspected case.

Bird flu has been reported in fowl in 16 of China,s 31 regions.