China culls 13,000 geese after bird flu discovery

China today confirmed that an outbreak of bird flu in its far north-west had killed 460 geese and said the case had been contained.

The announcement by China’s agriculture ministry came a day after authorities in Hong Kong released the news, having been informed by Beijing.

The ministry said it culled more than 13,000 geese at a farm in the Xinjiang region after discovering about 460 had died from the H5N1 avian flu virus strain.

Fears of bird flu in China were rekindled after Beijing reported in late May that more than 1,000 wild birds, including geese and gulls, were killed by the H5N1 flu strain in Qinghai, also in the country’s remote west.

China said both outbreaks appeared to be isolated incidents, with the case in Qinghai possibly carried there by migrating birds.

China has reported no human cases of bird flu. But world health experts fear the disease could mutate and spread more easily between people, sparking a possible flu pandemic.

Beijing is routinely criticised for not releasing information about its outbreaks quickly enough.

When Beijing informed local governments of the latest case, authorities in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong released the news before waiting for Beijing’s official announcement today.