Yunnan Province in China's southwest banned the entry of fowls and related poultry products from neighboring Vietnam and Laos as it attempts to prevent the spread of bird flu, local authorities said yesterday.
The province has set up a border buffer zone, demarcating a 1,600-kilometer-long, 30-kilometer-wide defending area along its borderline with Vietnam and Laos, according to the Provincial Department of Agriculture.
Meanwhile, it has shut down 75 markets for the trading of fowls and related products in eight prefectures and cities on the border, and installed 98 temporary checkpoints at key roads leading to neighboring countries, the department said.
The provincial departments of agriculture, health and forestry have jointly established 346 monitoring stations for bird flu, 151 special clinics for human fever, and 24 monitoring sites for migratory birds.
The province has also stored 5 million milliliters of H5N1 bird flu bacterin that can be used for 10 million birds.
The provincial capital of Kunming has closed all its bird trading markets, as have other Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.
Beijing suspended poultry trading in all its 168 markets as of November 7 and Shanghai shut down all bird markets last Wednesday.
So far, China has reported about 30 outbreaks of bird flu in 11 provinces and regions and confirmed three human cases of bird flu.
Meantime, Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province, has suspended bird trading as it strengthens efforts to prevent bird flu.
Local poultry raisers were told to disinfect regularly and vaccinate all fowl.
Flocks of birds from freezing northern China have migrated to the region to pass the winter.
(Xinhua)