Beijing Saturday staged a mock exercise to take emergency action to deal with a fictional bird flu outbreak reported on its outskirts.

On receiving a bird flu report from Taihou village in Pinggu District, the Beijing municipal animal disease control headquarters immediately sent experts, veterinarians, health inspectors and supervisors to the scene, and had areas surrounding the affected areas quarantined.

Checkpoints were set up shortly thereafter on roads three kilometers away from the affected spots, and disinfection was carried out on a large scale.

Epidemiology teams were then sent to the spot to confirm the outbreak. Upon its confirmation, the headquarters issued orders to close off the hit areas and to kill all poultry within a radius of three kilometers.

Poultry droppings were disposed of and poultry in areas three to eight kilometers away from the attacked spots were examined and vaccinated.

Those working and living in the affected areas were quarantined and examined.

Experts from the Agriculture Ministry called the mock exercise "successful", saying that it followed proper procedures and required methods.

(Xinhua News Agency February 15, 2004)