The bird flu epidemic in China is expected to turn from high incidence to gradual control with the upcoming endings of isolation on some affected areas, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture said Sunday.

The isolation imposed on Dingdang Town, Long'an County of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which was the first in China confirmed with the outbreak of deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu on Jan. 27, was brought to an end Sunday morning. No new bird flu cases have been discovered for a succession of 21 days after all the poultry around Dingdang Town were culled.

Four other areas afflicted with bird flu are being checked for ending the isolation, the China National Avian Influenza Prevention Headquarters confirmed on Sunday.

An important criterion to judge the bird flu situation is comparing the number of regions walking out of isolation with the number of newly confirmed epidemic regions, said Jia Youling, spokesman for bird flu control with the Ministry of Agriculture.

Though bird flu hit 16 Chinese provincial areas, the epidemic failed to be spread further and no bird flu hybrid to pass among people, he said.

In the five days ending Feb. 21, no new cases of highly pathogenic avian flu have been reported in China. And more epidemic-afflicted regions are expected to end isolation in the days to come, the Agricultural Ministry official said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 22, 2004)