Around 3,500 live chickens were transported from the Chinese
mainland to Macao on Friday morning, the first time since bird flu
hit the nation.
All are from three registered poultry farms in Zhuhai in South
China's Guangdong Province. The chicken have been isolated for
quarantine for five days before they were sent to Macao. Some of
them even received blood tests to prove their clean bill of
health.
According to China Central Television, no actual or suspected
cases of bird flu have occurred in all of Zhuhai's 35 poultry
farms.
Zhu Shaozhi, a senior official with the local quarantine
administration, said live poultry exports to Macao will be formally
resumed 15 days later from Guangdong Province.
Two areas in Guangdong Province -- the Jiangcheng district of
Yangjiang City and the city of Shaoguan, together with other two
areas in Hunan and Shaanxi provinces had their quarantines lifted
Friday.
No new avian influenza cases had been detected in these areas
for 21 consecutive days since the last infected birds were
destroyed, according to a Ministry of Agriculture spokesman.
Animal epidemic experts and officials concluded after
inspections that the disease had been eradicated in these areas and
they met the requirements for the lifting of isolation orders.
By Friday, 42 of the 49 epidemic areas have been freed from
restrictions and no new cases had been reported, according to the
ministry.
And no suspected or confirmed human bird flu infection cases
were reported on the Chinese mainland by 10 am on Friday, said the
Ministry of Health.
Local healthcare agencies, especially those in the bird flu-hit
regions, have enhanced disease surveillance after the outbreak of
avian influenza on parts of Chinese mainland, said the
ministry.
Those agencies conducted medical examinations of sample flu
patients and pneumonia patients with unclear cause and people who
had close contact with them, it said.
All close contacts have been released from medical observation
and no unusual situation was found, according to the Xinhua News
Agency.
The ministry also urged healthcare agencies at all levels to
further strengthen cooperation in sharing information with
agricultural departments, monitoring the situation and contributing
to the control of bird flu.
It warned all the public healthcare departments to conduct
strict surveillance and management to block the possible
bird-to-human transmission of such virus.
In Thailand, a 16-month-old boy was suspected to have caught
bird flu, Xinhua reported on Friday.
A bird flu virus called H5N1 was found in the boy's body. He was
infected as he played with his neighbor’s chicken in February, the
report said.
(China Daily March 6, 2004)