A number of cities and provinces in Vietnam have basically
contained bird flu, and actively prepared for recovering their
poultry population, the country's Central Veterinarian Department
announced on Saturday.
Most of localities in the central region and the southeastern
region have basically contained the disease because they have
reported no new affected areas, and no poultry being infected or
culled for several days.
Many northern provinces, including Yen Bai, Son La, Quang
Ninh,Lai Chau and Cao Bang have also detected no new affected areas
for around one week, said the department.
Between Friday afternoon and Saturday noon, Vietnam had no new
districts being hit by bird flu, but the country still slaughtered
nearly 516,000 poultry.
By Saturday afternoon, 57 localities nationwide were stricken by
bird flu, which killed and led to forced culling of over 37 million
fowls or 14.5 percent of the country's poultry population. Ho Chi
Minh City alone culled more than 5 million fowls.
To recover its poultry industry in the post-epidemic era,
Vietnam is further protecting its breeder fowls being raised in
12national breeding centers. It is taking three protective
measures.
The measures include isolating breeding centers by not allowing
residents' fowls to appear around the centers within a radius of
500 meters, disinfecting people and tools frequently, and
establishing standby centers in safer locations.
The government also plans to financially assist farmers because
it takes time and money to recover poultry population. Fowls are
not raised again until the bird flu outbreak is over for three
months.
Last year, Vietnam had 254 million fowls, including 185 million
chickens. They turned out 372,700 tons of meat, and 4.79 billion
eggs.
(Xinhua News Agency February 15, 2004)