The newly reported bird flu-hit city of Yongzhou in central China's Hunan Province has finished poultry culling to prevent the spread of the epidemic, the local government said Wednesday.

By 0:00 AM Wednesday, Lingling District, where a bird flu outbreak was reported on November 18, more than 108,000 fowls had been killed and another 140,000 vaccinated, said He Ningsheng, a local disease prevention and control official.

Local farmers will be compensated 10 yuan (US$1.2) for each poultry killed, he said.

The provincial vets department has shipped 500,000 milliliters of bird flu vaccine and 2,500 exposure suits to Lingling District to aid its vaccination and disease control efforts.

China's Ministry of Agriculture confirmed on Monday that 390 chickens and 12 ducks died of the H5N1 strain of the highly pathogenic avian flu in Laobutou village, Qilidian town on November 18.

No human infection cases have been detected in the bird flu-hit area, said He.

(Xinhua News Agency November 30, 2005)