East China's Shandong Province on Saturday ended the emergency response to bird flu, a week after a woman died of the virus.

All the 157 people who had close contact with the woman surnamed Zhang have been discharged from medical observation as of 7:30 AM Saturday. No one was found to be infected, said a senior official of the provincial health department.

Zhang, 27, who lived in Jinan, the provincial capital, fell ill on Jan. 5 and went to hospital when her condition worsened. Her death was the second bird-flu related death in China this year.

The province launched the emergency response after Zhang died on Jan. 17. There has been no report of human or animal infections of bird flu since then.

Shandong is taking measures to prevent and control the virus. It has banned the raising of poultry in urban areas and protected water areas.

Medical workers in the province have put more than 400,000 people under surveillance during the emergency response.

There have been 31,856 cases of respiratory disease in Jinan since Zhang's death and 586 people are suffering from influenza in the Huaiyin District where Zhang lived.

China has reported four human infections of bird flu so far this year, including three deaths. A 2-year-old girl who was critically ill with the disease was out of danger Friday after her vital signs remained stable for six consecutive days.

(Xinhua News Agency January 24, 2009)