China ordered already strict anti-bird flu measures tightened on Monday following two new outbreaks in poultry, while Romania said it would destroy 2,000 farm birds after finding the virus in hens and North Korea tightened border controls.

"There is a growing threat to human health," Yin Chengjie, a deputy Chinese agriculture minister, said at a news conference.

Yin warned that the disease's virulence, or its ability to cause illness, appeared to be increasing. He pointed to rising numbers of cases in ducks and geese, while earlier outbreaks were limited to chickens.

"It shows the increasing virulence of avian influenza," he said.

Yin and other officials announced new rules requiring local Chinese officials to set up disease-warning networks and to stockpile disinfectant and other emergency supplies. Officials who fail to pinpoint and report outbreaks quickly face firing or jail.

The regulations, approved by the State Council and published yesterday in major Chinese media, provide a "strong legal means" to shore up the country's drive to control and stamp out such major outbreaks as bird flu, Yin said.

Although the document mainly targets bird flu, Yin said it also applies to other animal contagions like foot-and-mouth disease.

It prescribes that veterinary authorities at various levels should have contingency plans, details the role of emergency response offices and specifies procedures for epidemic surveillance, information gathering and reporting.

According to the new regulations:

No one except the competent veterinary authorities under the State Council can release information on major animal epidemics. Information will be provided in an accurate and timely manner.

The responsibilities of forestry and veterinary departments in jointly monitoring the source of terrestrial wild animal epidemics are set forth.

Any act of delaying or failing to report an outbreak, or concealing the real situation, will be severely dealt with.

In case of a major animal epidemic, different measures including culling, disinfection, quarantine and closure of animal product markets must be applied to different areas based on how far they are away from the infected site.

Servicemen and police should support the epidemic control work.

In case an animal outbreak is likely to infect humans, health departments should monitor vulnerable people and adopt preventive and control measures in the afflicted areas. Health and veterinary authorities should share information in a timely fashion.

Cao Kangtai, director of the State Council Legal Affairs Office, yesterday said the regulations summarize China's expertise and experience in combating major animal epidemics in recent years.

144,624 heads of poultry culled

The latest outbreaks, reported on Sunday, were in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Central China's Hubei Province, and killed a total of 3,676 chickens, ducks and geese. Authorities culled 7,000 birds to contain the outbreaks, Xinhua said.

This year, the mainland reported 21 outbreaks of bird flu in nine provinces and autonomous regions, including one in which migratory birds were infected, Yin said.

Cumulatively, bird flu killed 144,624 head of poultry, prompting the culling of another 21.18 million, he said.

In recent weeks, the Ministry of Agriculture has been updating information on outbreaks at its official website (www.agri.gov.cn/ztzl/fkqlg/).

China assures foreign diplomats of safety

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health assured foreign diplomats in Beijing that it is safe in China despite the bird-flu outbreaks.

"There is no proof that the bird-flu virus can be transmitted from human to human. The situation is under control," Lei Zhenglong, an official with the ministry, told diplomats yesterday at a briefing.

The briefing was organized by the ministries of agriculture and health.

Bird flu prevention and control is a challenge for China and the whole world, Barry O'Neil, assistant director-general of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of New Zealand, told China Daily yesterday. "It is a global mission."

According to Li Jinxiang, vice-director of the Veterinary Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture, international collaboration will be strengthened to fight the disease.

Quarantines imposed on the first three epidemic-hit regions have been removed, said Li. The three regions are Hohhot in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Tianchang in East China's Anhui Province, and Xiangtan County in Central China's Hunan Province.

Developments in others countries and regions

In Romania, authorities will destroy 2,000 poultry in the village of Caraorman along the Danube River after tests confirmed that four hens there had the H5N1 flu strain, said Agriculture Minister Gheorghe Flutur.

"We are keeping things under control," Flutur told television station Realitatea TV.

Elsewhere in Europe, birds have tested positive for H5N1 in Russia, Croatia and Turkey.

In North Korea, a customs official said the country has banned poultry imports from countries with bird flu and is scrutinizing arriving travelers and goods.

"We're quarantining people who are suspected of even a small thing," said the official, Kim Hyong Chol, quoted by the Korean Central News agency.

North Korea suffered a bird flu outbreak in February that prompted it to destroy 210,000 chickens and other poultry.

In Indonesia, authorities were waiting for confirmation from a World Health Organization-authorized lab in Hong Kong after preliminary tests on the 35-year-old man who died in Jakarta were positive for bird flu, said Health Ministry official I Nyoman Kandun.

Throughout Asia, the H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed at least 67 people since 2003. Almost all of them came into close contact with infected birds.

Experts fear that the H5N1 virus could mutate into a form that can easily be passed from human to human, sparking a pandemic.

The WHO has recommended that governments stockpile Tamiflu, one of the only drugs believed to be effective against bird flu. But its Swiss maker, Roche Holding AG, says high demand and the lengthy period needed for production have led to shortages.

On Monday, Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute said it has produced shikimic acid, a key Tamiflu ingredient, from three unidentified plants.

Taiwan authorities have been negotiating with Roche for a possible license to make generic Tamiflu for a possible bird flu outbreak. Roche's supplies of shikimic acid come from the Chinese mainland.

Taiwanese "Premier" Frank Hsieh said last month that production of Tamiflu for 2.3 million people — 10 percent of the island's population — could begin in December and take about one month.