China Tuesday donated relief materials to help fight the bird flu outbreak in neighboring Vietnam.

The materials, worth 200,000 yuan (US$24,000), included six tons of disinfectants, 4,000 protective suits and 5,000 sacks to bag chickens.

Over 2,500 communes in 57 cities and provinces in Vietnam have been struck by the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, which killed and led to the culling of over 38.1 million birds, 15 percent of the country's poultry.

Vietnam has also reported 23 confirmed human cases of H5N1 infection.

The assistance was initiated by China's Ministry of Agriculture.

By Tuesday, 16 Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities had reported outbreaks of bird flu, but so far no human cases had been reported.

Chinese Vice-Minister of Agriculture Qi Jingfa, who is in Vietnam attending fishery negotiations, attended the handing-over ceremony held by the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry with members of the Chinese embassy to Vietnam.

(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2004)