Thailand now has 131 suspected bird flu cases under surveillance, waiting for lab test results to determine whether they have contracted the bird flu virus, local media Tuesday reported.

Officials from the Public Health Ministry was quoted by the Bangkok Post as saying that since the beginning of this year, there have been 1,960 suspected cases of bird flu, with 1,828 cases testing negative to the disease.

Thawat Suntrajarn, director general of the Department of Disease Control, said that the 131 cases are waiting for the lab test results. Of these, the highest number is 37 cases in the northern province of Phichit, followed by 35 and 16 cases in neighboring Sukhothai and Phitsanulok Provinces and 12 cases in the central province of Suphanburi.

After meeting public health officials, Public Health Minister Pinij Jarusombat said he had ordered medical specialists and senior officials to be on alert around the clock to control bird flu, dengue fever and hand, foot and mouth syndrome.

He also said that 765 persons in the northeastern province of Nakhon Phanom had been monitored for two weeks after having come into contact with diseased chickens.

As many as 300,000 fowls were culled on Sunday in the province, where a bird-flu outbreak was detected with the H5N1 virus.

The bird-flu virus killed a teenage boy in Phichit last week.

Two mobile labs were sent to Phichit and Nakhon Phanom on Monday and 20 specialist teams visited "red zone" areas in the affected provinces to give 24-hour advice to local health officials.

Source: Xinhua