BEIJING, March 17 (Xinhuanet) -- China will continue watching out for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) though it has achieved initial success in the campaign against the epidemic, said a senior official.

    Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu made the call here Wednesday at a meeting of the National Bird Flu Prevention Headquarters under the State Council.

    Hui, also director-general of the headquarters, said that China is to strictly carry out monitoring on poultry breeding and importand export quarantine on birds as well as quarantine in the domestic market.

    Monitoring of humans against bird flu will go on while relevant egulations and laws are being amended, said Hui, also the director of the National HPAI Prevention and Control Headquarters.

    China has stamped out all the 49 bird flu outbreaks in the Chinese mainland as the isolation in the last two bird flu-hit areas was lifted Tuesday in Nanning City of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Lhasa City of southwest China's Tibet utonomous Region.

    The first bird-flu outbreak in the Chinese mainland was reported in Dingdang Town, in Guangxi's Long'an County on Jan. 27.

    China controlled the bird flu epidemic quickly because of the rigorous measures it took, Hui said.

    Isolation, culling and compulsory vaccination were carried out in bird flu areas while the government invested more money in this ield, he said.

    Statistics show that in the campaign, China culled 9 million bird.

    However, it is still a long-term and difficult task to protect the country from the disease, Hui said.

    The country is working to build an effective network against animal epidemics, he said.

    Meanwhile, preferential policies and subsidies will be available to help the poultry industry, he added. Enditem