March 16, 2004

No Bird Flu Free Declaration In Thailand As Eleven Provinces Still Affected

Thailand's bid to declare itself bird flu free this week has been put on hold with eleven provinces still seemingly affected by bird flu. Officials say that it may not happen until April.

"We've found that chickens have still died in certain areas", Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob told reporters, adding that tens of thousands of birds had been culled in the 11 affected provinces since early March. "We may not be able to declare the epidemic over next week," Newin said. "We expect all of the areas to become green zones in April if nothing wrong happens".

Thailand, which has culled about 35 million chickens to prevent the spread of the deadly H5N1 avian influenza strain, is eager to revive its shattered poultry industry and resume annual exports worth $1.5 billion.

Newin said exports of cooked chicken could resume next week to Japan, the biggest buyer of Thai poultry.

Previous outbreaks of bird flu in Europe and the United States took six months to bring to heel and the OIE, the world animal health body, has cautioned against excessive optimism in Asia, saying H5N1 probably would be around for months.

At the height of the outbreak in Thailand, authorities declared 400 "red zones" in 42 of its 76 provinces. An area must go 21 days without a new outbreak before it can be downgraded to an uninfected "green zone".

Newin said 27 provinces were declared bird flu free on Saturday, but it would be another 69 days before farmers could start restocking their farms.