Chinese authorities Wednesday lifted the embargo on Kaifu district of Changsha City, Hunan Province in central China, where H5N1 bird flu cases were confirmed in August.

There have been no new cases of bird flu since the last sick fowl was culled 21 days ago, nor any cases of human contamination with the disease, the Ministry of Agriculture said.

Local veterinarians found the first dead birds at a duck farm in the city on Aug. 4. Bird flu was confirmed as the cause of death on Aug. 14.

Since then, all 217,000 ducks on the farm have been culled, and fowls in the embargoed areas have been vaccinated, the ministry said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 7, 2006)