Five chickens tested positive for bird flu Friday in the western Japanese city of Kyoto, local government said.

The tests were conducted after the death of about 10,000 chickens in a local farm.

According to the government, three dead and two live chickens were tested positive.

Areas within 30 kilometers of the infected farm have been sealed off to prevent spreading of the disease.

The latest bird flu report came out just two days after another one in the Nagano Prefecture where one chicken tested positive.

There were two confirmed outbreaks in southwestern Yamaguchi Prefecture in January and Oita Prefecture last week.

Quarantine imposed on infected farm of the Yamaguchi prefecture has been lifted after the government assessed that the situation had turned safe. About 34,000 chickens were slaughtered in the first bird flu outbreak in 79 years.

The government confirmed the second outbreak after testing seven dead chickens raised as pets by a household in the Oita Prefecture.

As of now, there has been no report in Japan that the disease had jumped to human being.

(Xinhua News Agency February 27, 2004)