SHENZHEN will ban the raising of poultry inside the special economic zone and buy anti-flu drugs worth 20 million yuan (US$2.5 million) in case of a bird flu outbreak.

No poultry raising will be allowed in Luohu, Futian, Nanshan and Yantian districts, and the existing farms shall be moved outside the zone, Vice Mayor Liang Daoxing announced Wednesday (Nov 24).

In Bao'an and Longgang, the poultry farmers will be subject to stringent supervision and the poultry will be vaccinated.

The five major wholesale poultry markets are now under renovation, Liang revealed.

Hongfa Poultry Market, an unregistered wholesale market in Futian, was closed Saturday on the grounds of poor hygiene, according to reports in Chinese newspapers.

Jiang Hanpin, director of the city's health bureau, said some 350,000 people had been vaccinated and another 20 million yuan will be spent on anti-flu drugs.

Liang reiterated that the high-risk groups including students, seniors, medical workers, and poultry farmers and dealers will be vaccinated.

Shenzhen has set up a network to monitor bird flu. No bird flu cases have been detected so far, said Zhang Shunxiang, deputy director of the city's Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Shenzhen Customs statistics showed that the shipment of frozen and live poultry products to Hong Kong via Shenzhen port had shrunk by some 66 percent from Oct. 15.

Editor: Wing