The Animal Health Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has reported a new H5N1 bird flu outbreak in the northern mountainous province of Cao Bang.
The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture of Saudi Arabia has temporarily banned imports of live birds, hatching eggs and chicks from Vietnam over concerns about avian flu.
Southern provinces and cities have drawn up a plan for prevention of avian influenza A(H7N9) as requested by the Prime Minister, following several outbreaks in China.
A new outbreak of avian influenza A virus subtype H5N1 has been detected in the central province of Ha Tinh, according to the Department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Tonnes of poultry are illegally traded and slaughtered daily in Hanoi’s markets raising public concern over the spread of avian influenza in the capital.
The northern border province of Lang Son held a drill on dealing with outbreaks of A/H7N9 and other high-pathogenic avian influenza viruses in Cao Loc district on March 17.
Vietnam has suspended the imports of poultry and poultry products from the US states of Wisconsin and Tennessee which have been affected by a strain of low pathogenic H5N2 and the high-pathogenic H7 avian influenza virus.
Two more cases of A/H7N9 bird flu infection in humans were reported in China’s Zhuang Autonomous Region, near Vietnam’s northern mountainous provinces of Cao Bang and Ha Giang, according to the regional health and family planning commission.
Customs officers of the northern mountainous province of Cao Bang on March 5 seized nearly 1,000 breeding chickens and ducks that were being illegally smuggled into the country from China.
Authorities of Hanoi are proactively controlling trade, transportation and slaughter of poultry in the city as the risk of H7N9 avian influenza outbreaks in animals and humans is high.
Vietnam would place itself in a scenario in which human bird flu infections could has been detected so as to take drastic actions to prevent the intrusion of avian influenza viruses that are raging in China, said Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long.
The Ministry of Health has warned of the possible intrusion of avian influenza A (H7N9) into Vietnam as the virus is raging in neighbouring China and Cambodia.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked for greater efforts from ministries and sectors to prevent bird flu viruses from entering Vietnam in the context of avian flu outbreaks in many countries worldwide.
An urgent meeting was held in Hanoi on February 20 to discuss measures to prevent avian influenza viruses, especially A/H7N9, which are spreading in some neighbouring countries.
Dien Chau district in central Nghe An province has stepped up preventive measures against A/H5N1 avian flu after hundreds of ducks were found infected with the disease last week.
The southwest province of Tay Ninh has directed all local authorities of its border districts to take immediate steps to prevent the spread of H5N1 bird flu and foot and mouth disease from Cambodia.
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