Isolation of four bird flu epidemic areas in China was ended yesterday, making the number of freed epidemic areas in the country now total seven, said Jia Youling, spokesman for bird flu control with the Ministry of Agriculture.

The four areas include Jiedong County in South China's Guangdong Province, Wugang in Central China's Hunan Province, the Yushan District of Ma'anshan in East China's Anhui Province and an area in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Previously, the Dingdang Town, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which reported China's first confirmed bird flu case, and the Nanhui District of Shanghai and Yongkang in East China's Zhejiang Province, were freed from restrictions.

According to Xinhua, the Ministry of Agriculture did not receive any report of suspected or confirmed highly pathogenic bird flu cases yesterday.

The country has not seen report of suspected or confirmed highly pathogenic bird flu cases since last Tuesday.

The Beijing municipal animal epidemic prevention centre has issued a notice that requires the strict disposal of animal waste and thorough disinfection of re-usable feedstuff bags to prevent and contain the spread of the bird flu virus.

The notice requires that large poultry farms must have special facilities to store and treat the poultry feces and these must be disinfected regularly.

In another development, a suspected bird flu case emerged in Japan yesterday and, if confirmed, it will be the third outbreak of the disease in the country this year, according to Xinhua.

A dead chicken in a village of the central Nagano Prefecture was tested positive for avian influenza, the Kyodo News Service quoted local officials as saying.

The case follows two confirmed outbreaks in southwestern Yamaguchi Prefecture in January and Oita Prefecture last week.

A quarantine was imposed on an infected farm of the Yamaguchi prefecture was lifted after the government assessed the situation there had turned safe.

Meanwhile, Mexico and the European Union joined a dozen other countries on Tuesday in banning US poultry due to a bird flu outbreak, according to Reuters.

The European Commission imposed a one-month ban on all US poultry shipments, a day after the discovery of a virulent form of bird flu on a Texas chicken farm.

Mexico expanded an earlier ban on poultry from 10 states to apply to the entire US.

Big US poultry buyers Japan, South Korea and China have also announced similar bans.

And Thai Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said on Tuesday that the situation on an avian influenza outbreak in Thailand had begun to improve, as all disease-affected areas were already declared vigilant zones, according to the state-run Thai News Agency yesterday.

Still, he said, officials concerned had been instructed to closely monitor the situation to ensure the epidemic would not break out again.

(China Daily February 26, 2004)