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The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and leaders of provinces and central-level cities were asked to mobilize human resources to boost inspections of slaughterhouses, transport of poultry and marketplaces to ensure food safety.

Relevant authorities must also take responsibility for ensuring a prompt response to any new outbreaks, culling affected poultry and vaccinating unaffected birds.

In response to the message, MARD Minister Cao Đức Phát said the ministry's Animal Health Department will keep cooperating with localities to curb the disease and import vaccines that could effectively protect poultry from new strains of the virus.

The MARD instructed to import 50 million doses of vaccine H5N1 Re-5. Meanwhile, other types of vaccines recently introduced on the international market will be tested for early application.  

PM Dũng also urged leaders of provinces and cities to work with the Ministry of Health and the National Steering Committee on Human Flu Prevention on ensuring humans are safe from avian influenza.

According to MARD, bird flu pandemic has spread on six northern provinces of Hải Dương, Hải Phòng, Bắc Giang, Thái Nguyên, Hà Nam and Quảng Ninh, four central provinces of Thanh Hóa, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Trị and Quảng Nam, and the southern province of Sóc Trăng.

So far, two people have died due to bird flu since the beginning of the year./.