China drafts plan to fight bird flu (Reuters) Updated: 2005-10-01 14:37
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has drafted a contingency plan to cope with a
much-feared outbreak of bird flu in the coming winter, state media reported,
only two days after it announced a blueprint for fighting a human influenza
pandemic. Reuters reported.
Bird flu, including the deadly H5N1 strain
that has killed 65 people in Asia, is believed to be endemic in the country's
poultry population.
The Ministry of Agriculture has issued "clear regulations" on bird flu
monitoring, warning, reporting and emergency responses for the coming autumn and
winter, Xinhua news agency said in a report late on Friday.
The regulations include obligations for a series of departments in case of an
epidemic and a system of four colour-coded alert levels, the report said without
giving details.
An unnamed official at the Agriculture Ministry was quoted as saying China
faced a "grave" situation in preventing and controlling bird flu.
"The ways of raising poultry in parts of China are relatively backward and
there is frequent circulation and shipment of livestock between regions. There
are some weak points in our work. Our task is quite arduous," he was quoted as
saying.
The plan called for strengthening surveillance in border areas, poultry
cultivating strongholds, migration routes of migratory birds and river networks
in south China -- widely seen as the flu's hotbed with people living in close
proximity to livestock.
China neighbours Vietnam, where the H5N1 strain has killed 37 people, and
hosts sections of three global migration routes for migratory birds. It also has
the second largest domestic poultry industry in the world.
China has in past successfully controlled outbreaks of bird flu with a
combination of vaccinations, culling and surveillance.
|