China confirmed two new bird flu outbreaks among chickens in its northeast, bringing the number of outbreaks reported in the past month to six, as leaders warned that the country faces a serious threat if it fails to control the disease. Meanwhile, the deputy prime minister of Vietnam, the country hardest hit by bird flu, vowed to fight the disease at whatever cost. "We have to mobilize all possible resources and all possible measures to fight the epidemic," the Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper quoted Nguyen Tan Dung as telling officials. "We must do our utmost to fight the epidemic at whatever cost, even (if we) have to adjust our national growth." Echoing those worries, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao warned that his country faces a "serious situation," with the disease still spreading despite massive efforts to stop it. A Ministry of Agriculture report, seen Thursday on the World Organization for Animal Health's Web sit, said the latest outbreaks of the virulent H5N1 bird flu virus _ in northeastern China's Liaoning province _ occurred Sunday and were confirmed Wednesday. The report identified the source of infection as "wild animals," presumably migratory birds. Wen ordered local governments to intensify measures to prevent bird flu from spreading, and to quickly compensate farmers for the loss of their stocks. About 670,000 birds were destroyed after the latest outbreaks, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
