China's health authorities have confirmed on Wednesday the first two human cases of bird flu in the country, and enhanced effort to prevent and control the epidemic.

The two confirmed cases involve a nine-year-old boy in Xiangtan County of Hunan Province and a 24-year-old woman farmer in Zongyang County of Anhui Province.

The boy has been discharged from hospital after recovery. The woman died on Nov. 10.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health reported the boy's 12-year-old sister, who had similar symptoms as her brother and died on Oct. 17, as a suspected human case of bird flu infection.

The experts from the ministry suspected the girl of being a human case of H5N1 bird flu, but could confirm it by the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO) due to insufficient evidence of laboratory tests, said the ministry on Wednesday.

Roy Wadia, WHO spokesman in Beijing, told Xinhua that by strict definition, the girl in Hunan could not be confirmed as a human case as the samples collected from her are too limited.

"It is not surprising to see human case of bird flu reported in China," he said.

However, "while any 'first' is, of course, symbolic, in purely medical and scientific terms this particular instance is more of a reiteration and continuation of the existing bird flu scenario in this part of the world than something that is completely 'new'", he said.

It also indicates the ongoing challenge countries face in raising public awareness -- especially at the rural, backyard farmers' level -- of the dangers posed by avian flu, Wadia said.

Hours before the confirmation was made, China decided to cut the taxes of businesses or individuals that raise, process or sell poultry, another move to boost public morale in fighting bird flu following a month that saw 11 outbreaks in the country.

The decision was made at a State Council executive meeting, which adopted nine measures and promised continued financial subsidies for vaccinating and culling poultry in bird flu-hit areas and building up modern breeding farms to prevent poultry from living side by side with humans.

The government also promised to refund value-added tax on all poultry products until the middle of next year.

Meanwhile, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine on Wednesday issued an emergent circular to the country's entry and exit ports, urging them to strengthen prevention and control efforts against human bird flu.

It requires all passengers to fill health information tables when entering and leaving the ports, and resume body temperature testing at Shenzhen and Zhuhai ports in south China.

China quickened its step to fight bird flu earlier this month, when a similar meeting chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao decided to set aside 2 billion yuan (248 million dollars) to check the spreading of the virus.

The H5N1 strain of the virus has killed more than 60 people in the world since 2003 and is endemic in poultry flocks in many parts of Asia.

Millions of chickens, ducks, geese and other poultry have been culled after 11 bird flu outbreaks were reported in China.

In the two most recent breaks in Xinjiang, a total of 322,500 family birds were culled and all poultry and products markets within ten kilometers of the affected villages have been closed.

On Tuesday, China announced plans to vaccinate its more than 14 billion farm birds, following Premier Wen's remarks last week that the country was "facing a serious situation" in controlling bird flu during his inspection tour of a bird flu-hit county in Liaoning Province, northeast China.

China has strong political commitment at the central government level in combating bird flu -- recent steps and statements have made that abundantly clear -- but translating this into action at the provincial and rural levels will be key, Wadia told Xinhua earlier.

China has provided information on bird flu outbreaks, on a regular basis, both to the WHO and other international agencies, as well as the media and at public forums. "Regular, open communication has been key in keeping the international community abreast of the situation regarding avian influenza in China," said the WHO spokesman.

Source: Xinhua