Beijing has reinstated daily reporting of bird flu
monitoring results in a bid to prevent possible outbreaks.
Daily reporting replaced weekly reporting at 86 bird monitoring stations on
Tuesday in preparation for the huge number of migratory birds that will fly over
the city this autumn.
Over 100,000 migratory birds from Russia, Mongolia and China's northeast will
cross the city in October alone, according to the municipal bureau of parks.
The bureau said it has monitored 122,583 migratory birds and found no
outbreaks of bird flu.
It urged residents to report immediately if they spot ill or dead birds.
The bureau warned people not to allow domestic poultry and bird pets to
mingle with wild birds so as to prevent possible outbreaks.
Beijing bans imports of live poultry and related products from regions hit by
the disease and is reinforcing poultry product quarantine procedures at local
markets, the Beijing News reported on Wednesday.
"Autumn and winter are critical periods for bird flu outbreaks. Officials
should be aware of the dangers and should not underestimate the difficulty of
controlling the virus," said Yin Chengjie, vice minister of Agriculture.
In the past fortnight, China reported two new outbreaks of birdflu, which
killed about 2,000 domestic poultry, in the autonomous regions of Inner Mongolia
and Ningxia Hui.