Vietnam has begun an unprecedented campaign to purge all live poultry in its two largest cities to slow the spread of bird flu, as the European Union's health commissioner said Tuesday that Indonesia needs international support to fight bird flu, AP reported Government officials in southern Ho Chi Minh City and the capital Hanoi have warned farmers to kill or sell all poultry living within certain areas of the cities by Monday. They will be paid 15,000 dong (US$1; ¤0.85), about half the current market value, if they act now, but any poultry found alive after the deadline will be destroyed with no compensation, officials said. The Ho Chi Minh City government is also buying poultry from commercial farms, slaughtering it and freezing the meat to be sold at grocery stores, said Huynh Hu Loi, director of the city's animal health department. He said about 150,000 birds remain, and officials are expected to slaughter those by this weekend. The ruling applies to urban and rural districts of Ho Chi Minh City, he said. «We hope that clearing out live poultry in the city will help minimize the chances of people getting s ick from bird flu,» Loi said. «A pandemic can happen anytime. We are doing all we can.» In the capital of Hanoi, animal officials were combing the city's nine urban districts and slaughtering all poultry found, said Nguyen Van Phuc, deputy director of the city's animal health department. The inspections were expected to be completed by the end of the week, and the government is paying the same amount of compensation. --mor 1254 Local Time 0954 GMT
