BEIJING, Feb. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- The Ministry of Agriculture announced Wednesday that the isolation of four areas affected by the H5N1 strain of bird flu was lifted.

    The areas are Jiedong county of south China's Guangdong province, Wugang city in central-south Hunan province, Yushan district of eastern Anhui Province's Maanshan city and the No. 12 Agricultural Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in northwestern China.

    No new bird flu cases had been suspected or confirmed for 21 successive days since the last birds in the affected areas were culled as stipulated.

    Experts in animal epidemics and officials concluded after inspections that the disease had been eradicated in the four places and the areas met the requirements for the lifting of isolation orders as stipulated in the Emergency Countermeasures Against Avian Influenza of China and the Technical Standards Regarding the Fight Against Avian Influenza.

    The Ministry of Agriculture urged local governments and organizations of animal epidemic prevention and control to continue supervision of animal quarantine to prevent the occurrence of new cases.

    So far, 16 Chinese provinces have reported bird flu outbreaks.

    The ministry said that it had received no reports of new suspected or confirmed avian influenza cases Wednesday. Enditem