July 5, 2006

Bird flu under control in China's Xinjiang 

The bird flu epidemic in Hotan County in north-west China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region had been put under control, China's Ministry of Agriculture announced on Tuesday (Jul 4).

No new cases have occurred in the past 21 days since the last bird in the infected area was culled, according to a report from the Xinjiang Headquarters for Severe Animal Epidemic Prevention.

Hotan County Government removed its quarantine restrictions on Sunday after a team finished checking on local epidemic prevention work.

The expert panel agreed that the quarantine and disinfection work were in accordance with national regulations and confirmed that no more poultry had died from the H5N1 virus and no humans had contracted the virus.

More than 17,100 birds were culled after domestic poultry at a local farm were confirmed with the H5N1 virus on Jun 7.