Concerns mount for new bird flu threat

HA NOI — Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Diep Kinh Tan yesterday said that the avian flu epidemic is at high risk of spreading in the Mekong Delta and in the central provinces during the Tet holiday.

There was concern brewing because more animals would be transported and slaughtered during this time, as the holiday approached.

Tan said that in recent weeks, more localities had found poultry flocks with the A/H5N1 flu. In particular, avian flu had spread in southernmost Ca Mau and central Ha Tinh provinces

More than 8,200 affected birds in Ha Tinh Province's Cam Xuyen and Thach Ha districts, and more than 6,400 in Ca Mau Province's Tran Van Thoi, Thoi Binh and Ca Mau had been culled.

Deputy head of the ministry's Animal Health Department Dam Xuan Thanh said that there were now six provinces with affected poultry, including Ca Mau, Ha Tinh, Dien Bien, Soc Trang, Kon Tum and Quang Tri.

The ministry urged the provinces to put more efforts into combating and preventing the spread of avian flu, and to make more checks on the transportation and slaughtering of poultry. — VNS