CHINA has shut down poultry processing factories in bird flu-hit regions as workers stepped up culling and vaccinating to stymie the rapidly spreading disease.

The world?s most populous nation is also battling to keep another deadly virus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, from resurfacing. A Chinese doctor in the southern province of Guangdong was confirmed last week as China?s fourth case since a global epidemic was declared over last July.

Authorities closed down poultry processing factories in the southern provinces of Guangxi and Hunan and nearby Hubei, where outbreaks of the avian influenza have been confirmed, the official Xinhua news agency said in a report seen yesterday.

Xinhua has quoted Agriculture Ministry officials as saying the bird flu epidemic has been brought under control. It did not elaborate but the World Health Organisation (WHO) is not so sure.

?It appears to be spreading rapidly especially in Guangdong?, Beijing-based WHO spokesman Roy Wadia said of the bird flu. ?We are extremely concerned?, he said by telephone. ?It is entirely conceivable that there could be more cases.?

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce has issued a notice calling for poultry markets in Guangxi to be shut and trade to be banned, Xinhua said.

Poultry exports banned

Checks would be stepped up and unsanitary markets, even in unaffected areas, would be closed, it added.

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu surfaced last December and has spread rapidly to ten Asian countries, killing at least eight people in Vietnam and Thailand and forcing the culling of millions of chickens, ducks and other fowl.

China suspects bird flu outbreaks in six other areas ? two in Guangdong, one in Hubei, two in the central province of Anhui and one in Shanghai city.

No humans have been infected in China so far. Poultry exports from the six provinces have been banned.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao unveiled an action plan last week to stem the spread of the disease, calling for timely updates from affected areas, compensation for farmers forced to slaughter poultry and preventative steps to keep the new strain from leaping to humans.

Chinese authorities have been culling poultry within three km (two miles) of infected farms, vaccinating birds within five km (three miles) and established national command headquarters, headed by Vice Premier Hui Liangyu, to battle the disease.

State television showed on Sunday footage of workers wearing white suits and surgical masks spraying disinfectants in farms and vaccinating poultry. In Maanshan, Anhui province, worried workers fled farms because too many chickens were dying, the Beijing News said.

Controlling outbreaks in China, expected to produce some 10.1 million tonnes of poultry in 2004, is worrisome to health experts because nearly four out of five chickens, ducks and other fowl are raised on household farms, where peasants live in close proximity with their animals.

The WHO has said China?s window of opportunity to stop the spread of bird flu was narrowing. the organization has also requested more information on China's use of vaccines to fight the flu, concerned they could mask infections.

Benjamin KANG LIM