"In recent times, people, administrations and concerned agencies have become less vigilant in preventing and combating bird flu," the Government leader told officials of the National Steering Committees for Control of Bird Flu and Influenza in Humans and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), at their meeting in Hanoi on February 23.

He requested that relevant ministries, branches and localities implement the Prime Minister’s instruction February 10 instruction requesting strict measures against bird flu and influenza in humans.

Mr Khiem asked the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to coordinate with localities nationwide to launch a month of hygiene and disinfection in March.

The National Steering Committee for Control of Bird Flu and Influenza in Humans reported that no new flu outbreak in birds has been spotted since December 15, 2005 and no new human H5N1 patients have been detected in the country since November 14, 2005.

However, the Committee warned of complicated developments of the disease in the coming time, mentioning the existence of pathogens in the environment, waterfowl breeding, wild and migratory birds, weather changes and unpredicted bird flu trends in the world.

The National Steering Committee for Control of Bird Flu and Influenza in Humans gave examples of extra-regulatory livestock farming and repeated slaughtering of poultry and trading of poultry products without veterinary quarantine in many localities as potential threats for the recurrence of bird flu in the country.

To prevent the disease, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has devised a poultry vaccination programme for this year and directed localities to work on plans for the establishment of concentrated livestock breeding farms, slaughterhouses and poultry processing units.