Bird flu spreads, Bangkok declared 'danger zone'

With the bird flu spreading to an additional 12 provinces, the disease has now affected 25 of Thailand's 76 provinces and capital Bangkok has been declared a 'danger zone'.

The city's Deputy Mayor Prapan Kitisin said Bangkok was declared a 'danger zone' after the Avian disease was detected in a cock, chickens and ducks. Authorities have announced that poultry cannot be moved within a 50km radius of the city.

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Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Somsak Thepsutin said bird flu had been found in chickens in 12 more provinces.

Incidentally, Bangkok is hosting an international conference on the Avian disease with representatives of the United States, European Union, international organisations and affected Asian governments in attendance.

Ten Asian governments - Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Pakistan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and China - have reported outbreaks in poultry stocks. The virus has claimed two human lives in Thailand and eight in Vietnam.

Pakistan on Monday said the disease, which killed up to four million chickens in Karachi since November 2003, was a strain of the bird flu.

Millions of chickens in the affected countries have been culled. Thailand is the world's fourth largest chicken exporter. Japan and EU, two of the major importers of Thai poultry, have slapped a ban on the product.