Vietnam hoping to declare it is bird flu-free at end of March
HANOI - Vietnam is hoping to declare itself free from bird flu, the disease that has killed 15 people in the country and decimated poultry flocks, by the end of this month.
Le Huy Ngo, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and Chairman of the National Bird Flu Control Committee, said the announcement would be made once all affected areas have eradicated infections.
In total, the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza has been detected in 57 out of the country's 64 provinces and cities.
More than 38 million birds or 15 percent of Vietnam's total poultry population have died or been slaughtered as a result.
Authorities have said affected localities can declare themselves free of the disease if after 30 days they have no new infections and they meet strict disinfection and hygiene conditions.
So far only four have formally announced an end to the epidemic.
In a press conference on Thursday for local reporters, Ngo unveiled plans to finance 50 percent of the purchase of breeding poultry for farmers who suffered losses from bird flu, the Vietnam News Agency said.
He also said the government would cover 50 percent of the interest rates on loans taken out by poultry farmers as a result of the epidemic.
In human terms, Vietnam is the worst affected of the 10 Asian countries hit by bird flu. Fifteen people have died in the communist nation from the disease, which has also claimed seven lives in Thailand.
H5N1 infections have also broken out in Cambodia, Laos, China, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea . Taiwan and Pakistan, as well as parts of the United States and Canada, have reported weaker strains of avian influenza.
Agence France Presse - March 12, 2004.
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