By February 12, Bac Lieu was the last province in the Mekong Delta reporting no new outbreaks over the past 20 days. Vietnam is expected to declare bird flu free on February 13 if no new outbreaks are detected, according to Bui Ba Bong, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. He said localities can resume the breeding, slaughtering, processing and transport of poultry if they contain the epidemic for more than 21 days.

However, Mr Bong warned localities of a high risk of bird flu recurrence across the country as test results show that the bird flu virus still hides somewhere in healthy waterfowl, posing a high risk of transmission among humans. 

According to Mr Bong, if there is a recurrence of the bird flu epidemic in the next three months in the Mekong River Delta, it will not be as big as it was several months ago. He explained that the next three months will be the time for egg incubation and new flocks, and there is a “gap” between the two vaccination campaigns. In addition, local farmers often maintain free-range practice for ducks to coincide with the harvesting time of the main rice crop.

To contain the epidemic in a sustainable manner, Mr Bong said localities should be highly vigilant, continue to take effective measures against the epidemic, maintain checkpoints in localities and continue initiatives to control the transport and trading of poultry in border areas.    

In the long-term, Mr Bong said his ministry is adjusting the anti-bird flu programme, rearrange the breeding, and enhance the control, transport and slaughtering of poultry across the country. He added that the ministry will mark off areas for breeding and slaughtering to better control the epidemic on the national scale.

Minister of Agricultural and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat, who is also head of the National Steering Committee for Bird Flu Control, on February 12 sent a telegram to chairmen of the People’s Committees of provinces and cities, as well as to relevant ministries and agencies, regarding the implementation of measures to cope with the recurrence of bird flu.

The telegram noted that the bird flu epidemic has been essentially controlled in Mekong Delta provinces. However, there is a high risk of bird flu recurrence in all localities nationwide due to the increasing demand for transport and trading of poultry. Recent research showed that the bird flu virus can still be detected in healthy ducks and geese, and it is possible to be transmitted to humans.

Mr Phat urged functional bodies to strictly follow the Prime Minister’s instructions and increase inspection of the transport, trading and slaughtering of poultry during the lunar New Year Festival (Tet). Affected-localities should continue to intensify tough measures to combat the epidemic with a focus on sterilization and vaccination work.

Purchasing safe poultry products to prevent bird flu

It is necessary to be careful with poultry farming and trading activities, especially during the approaching Tet, when there has been an increasing demand for poultry products.

According to recent statistics, about 60 percent of Hanoi’s poultry products are supplied by other localities, but only 10-20 percent of them comply with examination regulations at check points.

Due to the outbreak of bird flu, more than 45 million poultry have been culled, causing great losses for millions of farmer households. However, local people can avoid the culling of poultry if they properly implement vaccination work.

The fact that consumers have purchased safe poultry products has not only helped reduce the risk of virus transmission but also encourage farmers to implement the bio-safety farming model instead of their small-scale free-range practices.