Dazhu County, the latest bird flu outbreak site in southwest China's Sichuan Province, has shut down all its 54 live poultry markets amid efforts to prevent the spread of the epidemic.

Sales of poultry, eggs and related products have been banned in the county since Tuesday when the Ministry of Agriculture announced that bird flu had broken out in Dazhu, said Yang Yue, deputy director of the Sichuan Provincial Bureau for Industry and Commerce.

Local residents remain calm and the price of other kinds of meat in the market has not changed, Yang said.

"Residents understand the situation and no obstruction was encountered in closing the live poultry markets," he said.

A total of 163 law enforcement officials have been dispatched to supervise the local markets, he said.

"If no new bird flu outbreak is reported in Dazhu within 21 days, the live poultry markets can be reopened," Yang said.

The Municipal Bureau for Industry and Commerce of Dazhou City, the highest authority in Dazhu County, has banned sales of live poultry in all its counties.

Hong Kong has decided to suspend imports of live poultry and poultry meat from Sichuan, the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said on Wednesday.

Between December 22 and 25 last year, 1,800 chickens and ducks died in three households in Yangjia Town's Liuyan Village. On January 3, the Ministry of Agriculture confirmed the outbreak of H5N1 bird flu there.

Migratory birds have been blamed for the latest outbreak of bird flu in Dazhu, China Daily reported on Thursday, citing Su Lin of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Health.

Nobody has been infected with the H5N1 virus in Dazhu, as the blood tests of all the 16 people in close contact with the dead poultry have proved negative, said Su, chief of the Emergency Response Office in the department.

Su said that Dazhu, some 400 kilometers east of provincial capital Chengdu, is where migratory birds from North China such as white cranes stop before flying further south to spend winter.

Although most migratory birds from the north have left Sichuan for the south, some remain and will not leave until Spring Festival, which starts on January 29, said the official.

The Ministry of Agriculture had sent an expert team to Dazhu to direct control efforts.

In line with China's animal epidemic prevention regulations, the Dazhu epidemic site will undergo quarantine isolation for a minimum of 21 days.

(Xinhua New Agency January 6, 2006)