Central Quang Tri province, one of 14 localities of Vietnam meeting criteria to announce an end to bird flu outbreaks, has just declared that the disease has reoccurred in its territory, local newspaper Saigon Liberation reported Tuesday.

Some fowls in the two districts of Gio Linh and Trieu Phong, and the two towns of Quang Tri and Dong Ha have recently died of bird flu virus strain H5N1, said the provincial People's Committee on Monday.

However, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has yet to confirm the return of bird flu in Quang Tri. The ministry's Department of Animal Health, on December 26, announced that only seven localities, including the six northern provinces of Ninh Binh, Son La, Thai Nguyen, Quang Ninh, Ha Giang and Yen Bai, and the central province of Thanh Hoa, have yet to meet the criteria (detecting no new outbreaks for at least three weeks).

Since October 1, a total of 21 cities and provinces of Vietnam have been hit by bird flu, which has killed and led to the forced culling of over 3.7 million fowls, the department said.

The Vietnamese government has recently instructed the agriculture and healthcare sectors to make greater efforts so that the country will see no bird flu outbreaks next year.

(Xinhua News Agency December 27, 2005)