Forestry authorities have stepped up surveillance of migratory birds to prevent and control the spread of bird flu.

Migratory birds are believed to have carried the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus, which killed 6,000 wild geese in May in Qinghai Province and caused six bird-flu outbreaks in four provinces since last month.

China plays host to a quarter of the world's migrating birds and a fifth of all species. Of the eight major global migration routes, three pass through China the Central Asia-India, East Asia-Australasia and West Pacific routes.

"The paths cover most parts of the country," Wang Wei, deputy director of the State Forestry Administration's (SFA) Department of Wildlife and Forest Plant Protection, said yesterday.

The ministry has activated 118 national monitoring sites in nature reserves and bird-banding centres in recent months, and the number will rise to 300 next year, Wang said.

Along with 400 provincial monitoring sites, the system covers major migration routes, stopover habitats and breeding areas.

Any sick or dead bird will be tested and reported to the system's headquarters in Shenyang, Northeastern China's Liaoning Province.

Vigilance and surveillance, however, do not mean protection of migratory birds should be abdicated, said the SFA.

Amidst growing fear of bird flu, some people have driven wild birds away from their stopover habitats or even killed them, Wang said.

"I am worried about the over-reaction. Some people even ate them. This is very dangerous for endangered species and the ecosystem."

Of the roughly 700 species of migratory birds which pass through China, 200 are endangered, said Zhang Zhengwang, professor of zoology at Beijing Normal University.

For instance, about 90 per cent of the 3,000 oriental white storks in the world come to China.

The China Wildlife Conservation Association yesterday also called on the public to protect migratory birds and immediately report on sick or dead birds to the local health authorities.

In Geneva, health and veterinary officials from around the globe ended a three-day meeting late on Wednesday and announced a US$1-billion, three-year strategy aimed at rooting out bird flu among poultry and stopping it from spawning a pandemic, Reuters reports.

World Health Organization chief Lee Jong-Wook said the strategy aimed to boost early warning systems, strengthen veterinary services, make it easier for rich and poor nations alike to get antiviral drugs and step up research into pandemic vaccines.

The H5N1 virus is endemic in poultry across Asia, where it is known to have infected 124 people and killed 64.

Kuwait has detected two cases of bird flu in birds, a senior official said yesterday.

It is the first known case of the disease in the Middle East.

Experts fear H5N1 could mutate into a form that passes easily among people, just like human influenza. If it does, millions could die because they would have no immunity.

(China Daily November 11, 2005)