Armed police in China guard mass poultry cull to halt bird flu

As a result of the fourth outbreak of bird flu in just three weeks, Chinese health authorities have ordered a mass cull of cull of poultry in the north-east of the country.

In order to carry out the cull successfully, armed police have been brought in to the area to guard the cull after this latest outbreak of the deadly virus.

It seems that as many as 370,000 birds will be killed in the province of Liaoning which is close to the North Korean border where the virus has apparently killed almost 9,000 chickens.

According to the Chinese media, the operation which was to be completed by Sunday involves 1,700 government workers and 100 police officers.

To date no human cases have been reported in China.

The police have been called in to seal off the outbreak area in Liaoning's Heishan County which has been visited by Agriculture Minister Du Qinglin and Chief Veterinarian Jia Youling.

Since it first appeared in late 2003, the virus has killed more than 60 people in Asia and infected at least 123, but as yet there has been no confirmed case of human-to-human transmission.

Mr Du has said that it is imperative to act early, quickly and strictly against the virus.

Mean while residents in the area are being offered free medical checks while poultry in unaffected sections in the vicinity is being vaccinated.