Despite holiday, surveillance tightened in bird-flu-hit Qinghai
May 5th, 2006
Despite holiday, surveillance tightened in bird-flu-hit Qinghai
Local veterinary officials in Qinghai province were asked to step up bird flu surveillance efforts during the May Day holiday, after a wild goose was killed by bird flu virus in the region.
A bar-head goose was found dead in Gangcha County of the western Qinghai province, being tested positive for the H5N1 strain, according to an announcement from the Ministry of Agriculture’s on Sunday.
The ministry, saying the area where the dead bird was found had been sterilized, ordered local authorities to tighten virus surveillance on areas where large number of migratory birds rest, China Daily reported on Tuesday.
“Dozens of teams of people are sent every day to monitor areas where lakes abound,” the paper quoted Sun Yingxiang, an official with the provincial agriculture department, as saying.
Even though it is the May Day holidays, the hundreds of observers would not be relaxing their surveillance duties, said Sun, according to the paper.
“We send people to regions that we have access to, and telescopes will be used in areas out of reach, such as wetlands,” Sun was quoted as saying.
Qinghai is known as a stopping point for migrating birds and thousands of bar-headed geese were killed by the virus in 2005 at a nature reserve in the region.