Quarantine has ended in two bird flu-hit areas in east China's Anhui Province and the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, local epidemic prevention authorities have announced.

Fanwei village in Caoan town on the suburbs of Huainan, a city in Anhui Province, was lifted of a three-week quarantine at 0:00 AM Tuesday, said the municipal headquarters for the prevention and control of animal-born diseases.

With the ending of quarantine, local live fowl and bird product markets have reopened Tuesday after a 20-day shutdown since November 15.

Fanwei village reported sudden deaths of poultry on November 8 and the Ministry of Agriculture announced on November 14 the village was hit by the H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic bird flu.

No further cases were reported during the quarantine period, according to the disease prevention authorities.

In another development, a town in Zepu county in Xinjiang celebrated the end of a 21-day quarantine on Monday, the local government said.

Quibaga town was quarantined following a bird flu outbreak on November 8 and all fowls that had not been vaccinated beforehand were culled.

Removal of the quarantine at 11:00 AM Monday was followed a buying spree at the newly opened poultry markets, as chickens, ducks and geese had been much coveted by the townspeople, including the 20,000 oil workers for a local petroleum firm, as meat is indispensable to the locals' diet.

"What else have we got to fear now that the government has lifted quarantine?" said one customer in response to a question raised by Xinhua reporters.

Chicken farm runner Sun Zhen was repairing his motorbike when everyone else was ready to tuck into chickens again. His ill-fated farm was hit by bird flu on November 8 and all his poultry were culled. For safety considerations, he is not allowed to raise poultry on that farm again until six months later.

"I want to tour some inland provinces and hopefully pick up some new breeding expertise," Sun said calmly.

(Xinhua News Agency December 6, 2005)