Southwest China's border province of Yunnan has banned the entry of fowls and related products from neighboring Vietnam and Laos amid efforts to prevent the spread of bird flu, local authorities said Sunday.

The province has outlined a 1,600-km-long, 30-km-wide defending area along its borderline with Vietnam and Laos, according to the Provincial Department of Agriculture.

It has meanwhile shut down 75 markets for the trading of fowls and related products in eight prefectures and cities on the borderline, 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 ml 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, a practice that has been adopted by other Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.

So far, China has reported about 30 outbreaks of bird flu in 11 provinces and regions and confirmed three human cases of bird flu.

(Xinhua News Agency December 5, 2005)