Siping City, under the jurisdiction of northeast China's Jilin Province, adjacent to Liaoning Province, whose Heishan County reported an outbreak of bird flu last week, has set up five checkpoints on main roads to curb the spread of the epidemic, a municipal official said on Tuesday.

"It's critical for us to intensify inspection here in Siping, so as to keep the infectious disease out of Jilin Province," said Yang Zhanfeng, head of the city's Animal Husbandry Bureau.

Siping, 170 kilometers away from the bird flu-hit Heishan County in Liaoning and about 90 kilometers from Changchun, capital city ofJilin, is the major gateway connecting the two provinces.

"Our farmers have for years established a good relationship with some of the most important poultry farms in Liaoning, which increases Jilin's exposure to the avian influenza," Yang said.

To prevent spread of the bird flu, the checkpoints on the main roads between the two provinces are responsible for the disinfection of vehicles and poultry from Liaoning.

"We must try our best to cut off all the possible ways for the spread of the disease by strengthening inspection, disinfection and quarantine," said Zhang Yuanfu, Secretary of Siping Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China.

The municipal government of Siping has taken many other measures, including tightened surveillance over reservoirs and lakes as well as habitats of migratory birds, to minimize the risk of a bird flu human outbreak.

(Xinhua News Agency November 8, 2005)