That's due to the outbreaks in surrounding countries and the large number of wild birds migrating and carrying the virus north with them.

In addition, 60 per cent of China's 13.2 billion chickens are raised in small farms where it is not uncommon for them to live in close quarters with domestic animals and people. In addition, quarantine conditions in many places are not as strict as they should be.

Hui spoke about the country's bird flu situation during Thursday's seventh session of the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress.

The Chinese Government, he said, has approved a veterinarian bureau and a chief veterinarian system to be set up by the Ministry of Agriculture.

At the same time, the country will give support to large-scale poultry farms and encourage the adoption of modern methods in raising poultry, Hui said.

Also Thursday, isolation of six bird flu epidemic areas were ended, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

The areas include the Chenggong County of Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan Province, Ezhou and Wuxue in Central China's Hubei Province, the Guangde County, Jieshou and Yingzhou District in Huyang in East China's Anhui Province, Xinhua News Agency reported.

In another development, inspection and quarantine departments in China were called upon to thoroughly check export-oriented avian meat manufacturers and poultry farms to ensure that exported avian products are safe, China Central Television (CCTV) reported.

Avian meat companies will be checked to see whether the bird flu virus can be found within a 50-kilometre radius and whether they have established effective quarantine systems.

The farms were also required to prevent birds and rats from coming into contact with the chickens.

The Certification and Accreditation Administration will force companies that do not meet standards to catch up quickly, reported CCTV.

The administration will suspend export certificates for companies that fail to improve their conditions.

By Wednesday, 16 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities had reported 52 bird flu cases, of which 49 have been confirmed. A total of 143,000 chickens have caught the virus and 128,000 of them have died.

To prevent bird flu from spreading, more than 8.5 million poultry had been slaughtered by Wednesday and more than 12 million were quarantined.

The central government has attached great importance to the control of bird flu, the report said. Efforts include the allocation of 100 million yuan (US$12 million) for research on prevention and control.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Organization of Food and Agriculture (FAO) has approved an urgent technical co-operative project to help China conduct interchanges between experts on bird flu.

China's Ministry of Agriculture has, jointly with FAO and the World Health Organization, established information system on epidemic situation.

China has provided countries like Viet Nam and Thailand with US$450,000 for emergency aid and the Ministry of Agriculture has recently offered Viet Nam aid materials worth of 200,000 yuan (US$24,000), which include exposure suits and gloves, according to the ministry.

(Xinhua News Agency February 27, 2004)