China's Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) announced that the quarantine has been lifted in all areas affected by the avian flu on the Chinese mainland after a no-go zone in southwest China was declared safe by local government earlier on Friday.

Citing a report from the Guizhou provincial government, the ministry said quarantine was lifted on Friday morning in a bird flu-hit area in southwestern Guizhou Province after all live birds had been culled and no new cases of infections had been reported in the last 21 days.

This was the last no-go zone to have been given the all-clear. Prior to this, quarantine had already been lifted on 32 of the 33 affected areas on the mainland. But the ministry for caution against any possible new outbreaks in the coming months.

A ministry official said 33 counties or districts in 26 prefectures or cities in 14 provincial areas had been hit by the disease since last year.

With the MOA's approval, Wudang district in the provincial capital Guiyang was lifted of a three-week quarantine at 8:00 AM.

The district was put under quarantine following an H5N1 avian influenza outbreak among quails on January 6. The local live fowl market was closed, all sick birds culled and local chicken farms sterilized.

(Xinhua News Agency January 28, 2006)