New outbreaks of bird flu were reported yesterday in the Xinjiang Uygur and Ningxia Hui autonomous regions in China's northwest and Yunnan Province in the southwest.
Veterinarian slaughtered some 170,000 birds within 3 kilometers of the trouble sites: Urumqi in Xinjiang, Chuxiong in Yunnan and Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia.
The Ministry of Agriculture dispatched teams of experts to help control the disease after receiving reports that a total of 2,768 birds were found dead at the three sites.
Later laboratory tests confirmed that the birds had died from the H5N1 strain of the virus.
Prior to the latest reports, state authorities said 21 bird flu outbreaks had occurred in nine provinces, autonomous regions and cities. Two confirmed and one suspected human cases were also reported.
Also yesterday, China's drug watchdog authorized clinical testing on a domestically produced bird flu vaccine for humans.
The vaccine was developed from a virus strain provided by the World Health Organization, according to the State Food and Drug Administration.
China began developing bird flu vaccines last year. The SFDA has been monitoring progress since the program's early stage. The vaccine was given fast-track examination status by the agency.
The Beijing-based vaccine producer, Sinovac Biotech, the first in the world to develop a SARS vaccine, applied to the SFDA for clinical tests of the bird flu vaccine for humans in October.
Facilities for the mass production of the vaccine are ready, said Yin Weidong, the company's general manager.
Seven other drug firms, including those in the United States, the European Union and Japan, are developing similar vaccines.