Measures included preferential loan, taxation and administrative fees for poultry breeding, processing and cultivating enterprises affected by the epidemic, he said.

Wen also called on local governments to do their utmost to boost farmers' incomes by compensating them for any losses.

New suspected outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu were reported Wednesday in Honghu City, Gong'an County, Songzi City and Yangxin County in Central China's Hubei Province.

The regions probably tainted by the bird flu virus also include Heshan District of Yiyang City and Shaodong County in Central China's Hunan Province and Jiangcheng District of Yangjiang City in South China's Guangdong Province.

Quarantine measures were imposed and poultry culled in the affected regions, said sources with the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) Wednesday.

No human infections have been found in any of the areas touched by the epidemic, said Ministry of Health spokesman Mao Qun'an.

The Ministry of Health is expected to release a report on its investigation which focused on the number of people affected and measures taken, Mao said.

The central government, at the same time, issued a provisional regulation for the bird flu control fund, asking local governments to use the money properly.

Internationally, the World Health Organization said that it may take up to two years to control bird flu among poultry.

During that time, a low chance of people catching the disease will exist, the WHO noted.

Mike Ryan, WHO's global response coordinator for avian flu, also said the UN agency plans to send fresh teams to China and Laos, bringing to about 50 the number of experts deployed in the field.

In the United States, a bird flu virus was found in a second Delaware chicken flock, US officials said on Tuesday.

Simultaneously, the Chinese Administration of Industry and Commerce issued an emergency notice, demanding local administrations crack down on fake bird flu vaccines.

Sources said fake vaccines killed chickens in Xinle City, North China's Hebei Province, and were also spotted in Hefei City, East China's Anhui Province.

In another development, Zhang Mingqing, spokesman with the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, called for closer cooperation between Taiwan and the mainland to curb the spread of bird flu.

Taiwan so far hasn't reported any cases of the H5N1 bird flu. But more than 230,000 chickens infected with the milder H5N2 strain, which hasn't jumped to humans, have been culled on the island.

And forestry authorities have beefed up its efforts to protect wild birds and prevent the potential spread of the epidemic disease by migratory birds.

In Beijing, more than one million homing pigeons have been confined to their pens.

(China Daily February 12, 2004)