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City issues ban on poultry farms as bird flu precaution
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Health workers participate in a drill to provide medical aid to bird flu patients. The exercise, held on Sunday in the central province of Quang Tri, drew 300 people from different sectors. — VNA/VNS Photo Ho Cau
</td> </tr> </tbody></table>HCM CITY — HCM City has suspended poultry farming until next February to ward off possible bird flu outbreaks this winter, the peak season for the epidemic.
The City’s People’s Committee instructed the city’s districts to apply all measures drawn up to prevent bird flu and H5N1 flu (type A) in humans.
It also told the departments of agriculture and rural development, and animal health, to raise public awareness about the disease and the devastating consequences if an epidemic resurfaced.
Under emergency plans, animal health officials would seal off infected areas, step up border checks, and vaccinate poultry against the disease.
Nationwide alert
The Ministry of Health has asked localities nationwide to be vigilant against bird flu and warned people of a possible recurrence of the deadly virus in the coming autumn-winter period.
People were not fully aware of the possibility of a recurrence of bird flu, Deputy Health Minister Trinh Quan Huan said in a directive issued last week.
He added that in some localities, where scattered dead birds were found, concerned agencies and poultry farmers did not pay enough attention to reporting the situation and taking prompt preventive measures.
The ministry asked localities to increase inspections of the cross-border transportation of poultry and poultry products and to ensure that the transportation, slaughtering and marketing of poultry is conducted in accordance with all relevant regulations.
According to World Health Organisation, bird flu has returned to Southeast Asia, specifically Laos, Thailand and Indonesia.
Viet Nam is the only country among the 10 nations that hasn’t reported new human infection since early this year.
As a way of prevention, Dr Nguyen Duc Hien, who is the director of the Central Institute for Clinical Medicine and Tropical Diseases, warned people to vaccinate themselves against the common flu.
Hien said although vaccines were not effective in preventing bird flu, they could help reduce the dangerous combination of normal flu and bird flu.
He urged health officials and those who have direct contact with poultry in particular to get immunised. — VNS