Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has sent an urgent message asking local
authorities to double efforts to control outbreaks of bird flu in 11
provinces across the country.
The Prime Minister asked
the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and leaders of
provinces and central-level cities to mobilise human resources to boost
inspections of slaughterhouses, transport of poultry and marketplaces to
ensure food safety.
Relevant authorities must also take
responsibility for ensuring a prompt response to any new outbreaks,
culling affected poultry and vaccinating unaffected birds, said Dung.
In response to the message, Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development Cao Duc Phat said the ministry's Animal Health Department
will keep cooperating with localities to curb the disease and import
vaccines that could effectively protect poultry from new strains of the
virus.
Dam Xuan Thanh, deputy head of the department, said 50 million doses of vaccine H5N1 Re-5 will be imported.
He said in the meantime, the department's officers are continuing to
test other types of vaccines recently introduced on the international
market.
Dung also urged leaders of provinces and cities to
work with the Ministry of Health and the National Steering Committee on
Human Flu Prevention on ensuring humans are safe from avian influenza.
He asked the Minister of Health to implement surveillance measures to
ensure early detection and treatment for people exposed to H5N1, while
also working to prevent transmission of the disease.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, there
are outbreaks of bird flu in the six northern provinces of Hai Duong,
Hai Phong, Bac Giang, Thai Nguyen, Ha Nam and Quang Ninh, with the
latter province seeing the most recent outbreak. The four central
provinces of Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, Quang Tri and Quang Nam , and the
southern province of Soc Trang , have also seen recent outbreaks of
bird flu.
Two people have died due to bird flu since the beginning of the year./.
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