China denies bird flu cover-up

BEIJING, Apr 29 (Reuters) China, criticised for its initial cover-up of SARS three years ago, has defended its record on reporting human cases of bird flu as prompt and transparent, state media said today.

China has reported 18 human infections of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, 12 of which have been fatal. The latest is an 8-year-old girl in the southwestern province of Sichuan who the China Daily newspaper said was in critical condition yesterday.

Health Ministry spokesman Mao Qun'an said every human case of bird flu in China since its first reporting in November had been made public once confirmed, the Beijing News reported.

''The release of the information has been timely, open and transparent,'' Mao was quoted as saying. ''The report by US media is wrong and untrue.'' The Beijing News said Mao was referring to a report by the Asian Wall Street Journal on Thursday, which said local health officials in China had failed to report possible human cases of bird flu to the central government.

China was widely criticised for its initial cover-up the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2003 before it spread around the world, infecting 8,000 people and killing 800.

China has reported more than 30 outbreaks of bird flu in poultry across a dozen provinces over the past year.

Experts fear that bird flu could mutate into a form where it could pass easily among humans, potentially triggering a andemic in which millions could die.

REUTERS SHB BST1005