Quarantine was lifted and live fowl trading resumed Friday morning in a bird flu-hit area in southwest China's Guizhou Province, the local government said.

With Ministry of Agriculture's approval, Wudang district in the provincial capital Guiyang was lifted of a three-week quarantine at 8:00 a.m., the local government announced.

The district was put under quarantine following an H5N1 avian influenza outbreak among quails on Jan. 6. The local live fowl market was closed, all sick and suspected birds culled and local chicken farms strictly sterilized.

No new case has been reported by Friday and the quarantine work has been checked and accepted by an expert panel of the provincial quarantine authorities.

The provincial government has urged quarantine authorities to step up inspection and disseminate bird flu prevention knowledge among fowl raisers and consumers.

(Xinhua News Agency January 27, 2006)