Beijing shuts down live poultry and bird markets
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-11-08 11:32

The Beijing municipal government has ordered live poultry and pet bird markets shut down in urban areas in an effort to curb the spread of bird flu.

The sales of live chicken, ducks and geese in 168 markets in the city have already stopped after the bans were ordered on Sunday, Liu Yaqing, deputy director general of the Beijing agricultural bureau, told journalists.

The capital's long-standing and popular pet bird markets have also been ordered to close down, she said Monday.

Citizens can continue to raise pet birds at home. But allowing homing pigeons to fly around the capital -- a tradition that goes back hundreds of years -- has also been banned, Liu said.

Some 20 million out of 23.9 million farm-raised poultry in the city have been vaccinated for bird flu, she said, while inspectors are going door to door in urban areas to confiscate family-raised poultry.

So far the city has tested 2,500 people including poultry farmers or butchers for the bird flu, with no cases found as of Monday, Liu said.

Wild birds are also being monitored around reservoirs in the city's outskirts as well in Beijing parks.

"With the movement of migrating birds there is a greater possibility for the virus to spread to other areas," Liu said.

"It is very difficult for us to isolate contact between poultry in farmhouses and wild birds, so we face great challenges."

Bird flu has killed more than 60 people in Southeast Asia since 2003.