The government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has intensified necessary measures to prevent the bird flu virus from affecting the country, a senior DPRK official said Monday.

"The government has established a system of quickly and correctly reporting an outbreak of the case to the central guidance office while making all material and technical preparations so as to remove any slight symptoms in time," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted Mun Ung-jo, vice minister of agriculture, as saying.

"Such anti-epidemic measures as medical check-ups for the workers,thorough sterilization and quarantine at poultry farms have also been taken," Mun added.

According to the KCNA, the movement of migrants is under regular observation, their excretion is examined and families and special farms are required to keep poultry indoors.

"Various kinds of poultry and their products imported from abroad and by travelers are thoroughly quarantined at ports and frontier stations," Mun said.

Meanwhile, scientific research was being made to separate and identify bird flu viruses on the basis of successfully producing vaccines against the bird flu virus which was found in the country, he added.

All prevention activities are under the unified guidance of the State Emergency Anti-epidemic Committee. The ministries of agriculture and public health, the State Bureau for Quality Control and other relevant units are strengthening their role in this campaign, said the official.

In recent weeks, the bird influenza has rapidly spread to different parts of the world with southeast Asia being the hardest hit.

Source: Xinhua