Suspected bird flu cases have been spotted in four new Chinese regions, a senior official from the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) said Monday.

Jia Youling, a MOA spokesman on bird flu prevention and control, said the cases were recently detected in Jinnan District of north China's Tianjin Municipality, Macheng City of central China's Hubei Province, Anning City of southwestern Yunnan Province and Huayin City of northwestern Shaanxi Province.

Local governments have made emergency moves to cull and quarantine birds in the regions probably tainted by the deadly virus. No humans had so far been infected, said Jia.

(Xinhua News Agency February 9, 2004)