HANOI, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Vietnamese government has required relevant ministries, sectors and localities nationwide totake drastic measures to battle and prevent bird flu outbreaks among fowls and humans, local newspaper Youth reported Saturday.

    Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Dec. 22 requested them to intensify surveillance of fowl farms to early spot new outbreaks, cull all affected poultry, disinfect and detoxificate affected farms to stamp out the disease.

    He also asked relevant agencies to implement vaccination for all fowls in high-risk areas, and tighten control of transport, trade and slaughtering of poultry and related products. Cases of illegal import of fowls and related products must be strictly punished.

    The government criticized the two southern provinces of Bac Lieu and Ca Mau for their failure to timely detect and report the recurrence of bird flu, and asked them to complete the culling of all affected poultry on Dec. 23.

    Since early December, the disease has stricken four communes in three districts in Ca Mau and Bac Lieu, killing and leading to the forced culling of 8,394 chickens and 7,302 ducks, the newspaper quoted the Department of Animal Health under the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as saying.

    Bird flu outbreaks, starting in Vietnam in December 2003, have killed and led to the forced culling of dozens of millions of fowls. The last outbreak of bird flu among poultry in the country in 2005 was in December.