Thailand's Public Health Minister Pinij Jarusombat will invite poultry traders in Bangkok's Chinatown for a meeting to discuss measures to prevent bird flu, ahead of the Chinese New Year festival when much poultry is traded and slaughtered.

The meeting of poultry traders will take place Thursday, and there will be an inter-agency meeting on coordinated measures to prevent any bird flu outbreak later of the same day.

There have been no new known bird flu cases reported for a month, according to a report released by the Disease Control Department of Thailand on Tuesday.

To prepare for the Thursday meeting, teams of officials from the departments of health and disease control have been sent to scour Yaowaraj, a principal trading location for live poultry. The officials surveyed and informed traders on how they can improve on hygiene and safety for shelter, slaughtering area, waste disposal and sanitization, said the report.

Director-General Thawat Suntrajarn of the Disease Control Department said there has been no new known cases of bird flu since the last case discovered on Dec. 7 in Nakhon Nayok province.

He said the department remains watchful and continues to carefully monitor cases of pneumonia and lung infections admitted in hospitals. To date, he said, there has been no cases of avian influenza and no further serious cases of pneumonia or lung infections.

Thawat urged poultry traders to cooperate with the government by strictly implementing all hygiene measures and precautions.

Source: Xinhua