Vietnam to resume duck hatching despite bird flu

HANOI, Feb 28 (Reuters) Vietnam will allow hatching of water fowl from tomorrow despite a bird flu outbreak in the north, state media reported.

The Hanoi Moi (New Hanoi) newspaper today quoted Deputy Agriculture Minister Bui Ba Bong as saying the hatching of water fowl, mainly ducks and geese which can carry H5N1 virus without showing symptoms, could resume on March 1.

But breeders could raise ducks and geese only on closed farms and must register their plans with animal health authorities to prevent bird flu, Bong said.

Today, the Agriculture Ministry's Animal Health Department also ordered provincial authorities to prepare for a comprehensive anti-bird flu vaccination campaign in the coming weeks.

The ministry said it would import 20 million doses of vaccine from China for the campaign.

The Animal Health Department also confirmed the presence of the H5N1 flu virus in a flock of chickens in the northern province of Hai Duong.

All 10,500 chickens on the infected farm were culled on February 18 and no new infection was spotted since, it said.

On February 13, the Agriculture Ministry said bird flu had been contained more than two months after resurfacing in the south.

Vietnam, where 42 people have been confirmed to have died of bird flu, the world's highest toll after Indonesia's 63, has not had a human case since November 2005.

The Animal Health Department said in a report on Monday that all the Mekong Delta areas where poultry had been infected since December had gone 35 days without a new case.

Agriculture officials have said new outbreaks could hit Vietnam in March after the ban on hatching waterfowl was lifted and the effect of the most recent poultry vaccination phase expired.

The virus was found mainly in ducks. Some ducks can carry the virus without showing symptoms. They excrete the virus in their droppings as they paddle through muddy rice paddies looking for insects and leftover grain.

REUTERS PDM RAI1052