Authorities in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, have banned backyard chicken rearing in its urban areas after a local man died from bird flu last week.

Community officials have been ordered to see to it that urban chicken farmers cull their backyard stocks immediately and those in the rural areas have their birds examined regularly, the Information Times quoted a senior agricultural official as saying yesterday.

Canteens in the city have been forbidden from keeping live birds or culling the birds under their roofs. All live poultry markets have been ordered to close one day each week for a thorough disinfection.

The 32-year-old man surnamed Lao who died a week ago was the ninth bird flu fatality on the mainland. He had frequently visited wet markets before he died in a Guangzhou hospital March 2.

His girlfriend surnamed Zhang, who had shown symptoms of fever and cough late last month, was cleared of the virus Monday, with her quarantine period to end this week.

All poultry traders in the 12 wet markets where Lao had visited also had their blood samples taken for lab tests, the Times report said.

Meanwhile, the city's health bureau has urged all schools to examine the health of their students each morning and trace those who fail to appear.

The bureau also offered to give away pamphlets teaching the public about preventive measures against flu.

The city has since late last year set up 17 monitoring stations for the surveillance of migratory birds, which are said to be accountable for the spread of the H5N1 virus. More than 100,000 migratory birds pass through Guangzhou between October and March each year.　

Forestry officials have also called on residents to stay away from wild birds.

(Shenzhen Daily March 9, 2006)