About 47,000 poultry birds died in ten outbreaks of bird flu in seven provinces on the Chinese mainland this year, said an official with the Ministry of Agriculture on Friday.

 

Another 2.94 million fowls were culled, Jia Youling, chief veterinary officer and director of the the Veterinary Bureau of Ministry of Agriculture, told a press conference.

 

A total of 3,641 migratory birds in west China's Qinghai Province and Tibet Autonomous Region had died of the disease this year, he said.

 

The cases of human infection by bird flu numbered 13 this year, and seven last year.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 10, 2006)