China able to prevent bird flu from spreading: Premier

Premier Wen Jiabao said the Chinese government is taking effective measures to prevent the spread of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu on Wednesday in Moscow.

Wen, who is attending the Fourth Meeting of Prime Ministers of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) here, made the remarks during a brief interview with Hong Kong reporters after talks with Kazakh Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov.

Wen said the Chinese government attaches great importance to the recent outbreaks of bird flu in Inner Mongolia and Anhui Province, and has taken four major measures to deal with the epidemic.

Massive culling of domestic poultry was carried out in those regions, Wen said, adding the regions were strictly quarantined and local residents were vaccinated.

Wen said precautionary actions have been adopted to keep bird flu from transmitting to humans, and China has kept close cooperation with international organizations, informing them of the epidemic's latest developments.

The premier said China definitely can bring the bird flu under control through the above measures.

Source: Xinhua