Vietnam has, over the past two months, seen poultry die en masse in nine localities in northern, central, southern regions, compared with five southern provinces in the same period last year.

The northern province of Hai Duong on Nov. 10 declared outbreaks in five communes, which has killed or led to the forced culling of nearly 2,000 fowls since Nov. 2, raising the total number of affected localities to eight, and that of killed and culled poultry to over 29,000.

"Between late October and early November of last year, bird fluhit seven communes of the five provinces of Tien Giang, Long An, Soc Trang, Ben Tre and Can Tho, killing and leading to the forced culling of 7,300 poultry. It did not break out in the northern region until December 2004," Bui Quang Anh, director of Vietnam's Veterinary Department, told reporters early this week.

Vietnam is now facing a high risk of large bird flu outbreaks, especially in the southern Mekong Delta and the northern Red Riverdelta, since weather conditions this winter are favorable for the development of bird flu viruses, he said.

On Nov. 10, a large number of chickens in Tan Thanh district ofsouthern Ba Ria Vung Tau province, and some 200 ducks in Giong Rieng district of southern Kien Giang province died en masse, according to veterinary cadres in the two localities. Samples fromthe dead poultry are being tested for H5N1.

To deal with new outbreaks among fowls and humans, the Vietnamese government, on Nov. 10, asked the three ministries of Culture and Information, Agriculture and Rural Development and Health to strengthen propaganda so that organizations and individuals throughout the country have insight of bird flu as well as the disease's situations and risks. Local news agencies should have a specialized section for the issue.

The government also urged People's Committees of cities and provinces nationwide to coordinate with relevant state bodies and forces to center their anti-bird flu efforts on disinfecting farms,slaughterhouses and poultry processing facilities; facilitating the vaccination of fowls, and keeping close disease surveillance at grassroots levels.

Taking into the account the warning of the World Health Organization (WHO) that 10 percent of Vietnam's 82-million population could contract bird flu, and 1 percent of the population would die of the disease if the pandemic happened, Vietnam is attaching greater importance to ensuring the provision of Tamiflu, one of the few pharmaceuticals effective for bird flu treatment, developing vaccines, and working out a plan of actions for the worst scenario.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Health, on Nov. 10, announced that it has inked a deal with Roche, Swiss producer of Tamiflu, under which the firm will supply Vietnam with necessary materials and techniques to manufacture the medicine in the country. Roche also agreed to supply Vietnam with 25 million Tamiflu capsules in case of pandemics.

In the longer term, Vietnam will vaccinate humans against H5N1.It plans to conduct pilot human vaccination next year after tests on animals produced encouraging results.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Finance, on Nov. 10, said it ensureda budget of 4,915 billion VND (nearly 311.1 million dollars) to realize an urgent plan to cope with bird flu in humans, including more than 1,000 billion Vietnamese dong (VND) (nearly 63.3 millionUS dollars) to be used from now to the end of this year for the prevention.

Also on Nov. 10, the American Embassy in Hanoi capital announced the United States will offer Vietnam nearly 6.5 million dollars to combat bird flu both in humans and animals this year. Over 3.1 million dollars is slated for assisting the country in developing essential infrastructure needed to combat a possible outbreak of bird flu in people, including support for prevention and control planning, assistance to laboratories to better identify and analyze viruses, vaccine development and testing, enhancing national and community-based medical surveillance systems, and training epidemiologists, the embassy said.

Up to 92 Vietnamese people from 32 cities and provinces have been infected with bird flu virus strain H5N1 since the disease started to appear in the country in late 2003, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Health.

The WHO, on Nov. 9, confirmed a total of 125 human cases of bird flu infections, including 64 deaths, in Southeast Asia since December 2003. Of the fatalities, 42 are from Vietnam, 13 from Thailand, 5 from Indonesia and 4 from Cambodia.