Beijing has reinstated daily reporting of bird flu monitoring
results in a bid to prevent possible outbreaks.
Daily reporting replaced weekly reporting at 86 bird monitoring
stations on Tuesday in preparation for the huge number of migratory
birds that will fly over the city this autumn.
Over 100,000 migratory birds from Russia, Mongolia and China's
northeast will cross the city in October alone, according to the
municipal bureau of parks.
The bureau said it has monitored 122,583 migratory birds and
found no outbreaks of bird flu.
It urged residents to report immediately if they spot ill or
dead birds.
The bureau warned people not to allow domestic poultry and bird
pets to mingle with wild birds so as to prevent possible
outbreaks.
Beijing bans imports of live poultry and related products from
regions hit by the disease and is reinforcing poultry product
quarantine procedures at local markets, the Beijing News reported
on Wednesday.
"Autumn and winter are critical periods for bird flu outbreaks.
Officials should be aware of the dangers and should not
underestimate the difficulty of controlling the virus," said Yin
Chengjie, vice minister of Agriculture.
In the past fortnight, China reported two new outbreaks of bird
flu,which killed about 2,000 domestic poultry, in the autonomous
regions of Inner Mongolia and Ningxia Hui.
(Xinhua News Agency October 11, 2006)