China's Ministry of Agriculture announced Tuesday that quarantine orders have been lifted on three areas hit by the H5N1 strain of bird flu.

The areas are Songming County and Guandu District, of Kunming City in southwestern Yunnan Province, and the Wild Animal Park, of Shenzhen City in southern Guangdong Province.

No new avian influenza cases had been detected in the areas for 21 consecutive days since the last birds were destroyed, said a ministry spokesman.

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

The ministry said two bird flu affected areas were still under quarantine, and it had received no reports of new suspected or confirmed bird flu cases on Monday. No cases of suspected bird flu had been reported anywhere on the mainland for 22 consecutive days since Feb. 17.

(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2004)