Bird flu could spell national disaster: PM Khai
Bird flu could spell national disaster: PM Khai
Agence France-Presse, Hanoi
Vietnam's Prime Minister Phan Van Khai has warned that bird flu could spell national "disaster" and said tardy health officials would be punished for failing to stem poultry outbreaks, the state press said on Sunday.
"If we let a human pandemic occur, it would be a huge disaster for the nation," Khai was quoted as saying by the communist party newspaper Nhan Dan at a government meeting on avian influenza on Saturday.
"The risk of a human pandemic would be very high if avian influenza is not checked in a timely manner in the country," he said. "The epidemic (among poultry) is continuing to break out and become more and more serious."
Vietnam, a country of 82 million people, has suffered 42 human deaths from bird flu -- the highest number of any country -- and is experiencing its third avian influenza season since late 2003.
Khai also threatened disciplinary action against officials in areas which had poorly managed the epidemic that has spread among birds in more than a quarter of Vietnam's 64 provinces and cities since early October.
"There has been tardiness and inefficiency in the fight against bird flu in several localities," the premier said, deploring poor supervision by provincial authorities.
About one million birds have been culled since early October, and poultry markets have been shut down in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and other urban centers.
Khai said the government would share with farmers the cost of culling poultry. He also announced a bird flu information campaign.
Vietnam has said it will spend another US$82 million to fight bird flu. The country estimates it will need $50 million in foreign aid, of which it has so far received $10 million.
Across Asia nearly 70 people have died of bird flu, according to the World Health Organization, with China the latest country to announce a fatality. Deaths have also occurred in Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand.
Scientists fear the virus could mutate and combine with human flu variants, making it easily transmissible among humans and creating a global pandemic.