Bird flu prevention and control in China are currently in good order, and the government will devote more efforts in this regard, said Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu Sunday.

Hui made the remark at the first plenary meeting of the National Bird Flu Prevention Headquarters, a temporary organization founded on Jan. 30 and located in the Ministry of Agriculture.

Hui, also director-general of the headquarters, demanded that officials of the headquarters focus on seven key tasks.

The most important task includes immediate and accurate reporting of epidemic information, and the implementation of effective measures to prevent the spread of the deadly virus, especially to prevent it from infecting people.

He called on related departments to intensify surveillance, quarantine and disinfection in suspected areas and over farm produce and people, standardize the production and trade of poultry products, and strengthen the quarantine concerning fowl imports and exports.

He also urged the speeding up of scientific research into the virus and the introduction of more advanced prevention and control technologies.

He listed a sufficient reserve of vaccine and other medicines as one of the major tasks, and called for further cooperation with related international organizations and related departments in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

"We will win the battle with the precious experience we gained in combating the SARS crisis last year, the strenuous efforts of all officials and workers, a solid material and technological foundation, and support from the public," the vice-premier said.

Also on Sunday, the Ministry of Agriculture confirmed five more areas in China with suspected bird flu cases -- in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and Zhejiang, Hubei, Yunnan and Henan provinces.

Bird flu cases have already been confirmed in Hunan, Hubei, Anhui and Guangdong provinces, as well as Shanghai Municipality and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Local governments have started slaughtering poultry, and taken compulsory quarantine measures in those areas. The ministry has also sent task forces there to help curb the spread of bird flu.

Officials with the ministries of finance and agriculture revealed that the government would provide reasonable compensation for farmers at or within a radius of three km of infected site, whose poultry had to be killed. Local authorities should work out specific indemnity standards in line with the actual situation in each area.

For poultry within five km of infected site, the government has only ordered compulsory immunization, for which it will shoulder all the expenses involved, said the officials.

Non-compulsory areas that also ask for vaccine injections and other quarantine measures will share the expenditure between the government and local farmers, the officials said.

The government has also published books and pictures to publicize the symptoms and diagnosis of bird flu, as well as its prevention and control measures in brief and vivid ways. They have been distributed all over the country.

(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2004)