HANOI, July 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Vietnam detected a new area stricken by bird flu in the southern province of Bac Lieu on Saturday, and immediately took urgent preventive measures, local newspaper Labor reported Monday.

    Right after spotting the outbreak, local veterinary forces destroyed 1,600 chickens raised in a farm by Trang Chi Hue in the province's Gia Rai district.

    Earlier, three poultry farms with a total fowl population of more than 10,000 in Bac Lieu were reported to have faced bird flu,which either killed or led to the culling of over 5,000 fowls.

    On Sunday, the acting minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Cao Duc Phat, visited the province to discuss anti-bird flu measures with local authorities. Accordingly, no fowls are transported out of the outbreaks within a radius of three kilometers if their raisers receive no quarantine permission from local veterinary agencies.

    Other main measures include imposing heavy punishments on thosewho intentionally spread the disease by transporting or trading sick fowls, and giving financial assistance to those who willinglydestroy their affected poultry.

    Last weekend, Vietnam's Department of Animal Health affirmed that the country faced no new outbreaks of bird flu. But, local media reported that bird flu have reappeared in Tien Giang and several other southern provinces, affecting around 20,000 poultry.

    In late March 2004, Vietnam declared an end to bird flu that killed 17 percent of its fowl population and claimed 16 human lives since its outbreak last December.

    A total of 43.2 million fowls nationwide either died or were culled, causing the local poultry industry to suffer direct lossesof 1.3 trillion Vietnamese dong (82.8 million US dollars). Enditem