Month of environment disinfection starts

In an urgent dispatch sent to chairs of municipal and provincial People’s Committees on February 21, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development asked them to set up disinfectant sites in northern mountainous provinces. 

Farms and fowl slaughter and egg incubation facilities will provide funding and materials for the activity under the watch of local authorities and vets. 

At border gates, animal quarantine agencies will work with border officials to arrange disinfectant sites and sterilise vehicles transporting animal products via border gates. 

Communal authorities will send antiseptic spraying teams to farming households and fowl markets in rural areas, village streets and animal storage facilities. 

According to the World Organisation for Animal Health, avian flu H5N2, H5N8 and H5N6 broke out in China this January. Therefore, there are high risks that avian flu A/H7N9 and other strains of flu virus could enter Vietnam. 

After testing avian flu viruses in live fowl markets in 32 cities and provinces nationwide last year, the Department of Animal Health and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation found that the rates of H5N6 and H5N1 infection among chickens are 1.89 percent and 0.94 percent, respectively. 

Meanwhile, the respective infection rates among ducks are 6.7 percent and 1.63 percent. 

The H5N6 and H5N1 infection rates in the environment are 2.9 percent and 2.07 percent