WHO says 5,000 birds died of flu in China

Associated Press

Beijing, June 28:

Avian flu has killed 5,000 wild birds in China’s northwest, the World Health Organisation said today, five times the number previously reported by the Chinese government. Twenty birds a day are still dying in Qinghai province, but that rate is falling, said a member of a WHO team that visited the remote region. Chinese authorities haven’t killed any birds to prevent the spread of the disease because they are rare, protected species, said Dr Julie Hall, WHO’s China-based coordinator for communicable diseases, surveillance and response. Hall urged the Chinese government to carry out more testing for the deadly H5N1 flu virus.