Chinese authorities on Saturday removed the quarantine order on a village in central Hunan Province where an outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus killed more than 11,000 poultry in the middle of May.

Experts with the regional headquarters for the prevention of major animal-related epidemics said that after a final checkup on Friday no new outbreak of bird flu had been reported since the last poultry was culled 20 days ago in Shijiping Village of Taojiang County in the city of Yiyang.

The Ministry of Agriculture confirmed an outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu in the village on May 19.

Local authorities subsequently ordered the village to be quarantined, culling an additional 52,800 birds to prevent further spread of the disease, disinfecting all the potentially contaminated places and closing down all live poultry markets within a radius of 13 kilometers.

No human infection was reported in the village.

Earlier this week, Ministry of Health confirmed a Chinese soldier had died from bird flu on June 3, 10 days after he was diagnosed with the highly infectious disease on May 24.

On May 29, a villager in east China's Fujian Province was discharged from hospital after three months of treatment for the H5N1 bird flu virus.

China has reported a total of 25 human cases of bird flu since 2003, which have resulted in 16 deaths.

(Xinhua News Agency June 11, 2007)