Bird flu has killed more than 2,000 ducks and chickens in Vietnam's capital city of Hanoi, raising the number of provinces with avian influenza outbreaks this year to 10, DPA quoted an official as saying Friday. More than 2,000 ducks and chickens were found dead at a farm in Hanoi's outlying district of Soc Son between March 3 and 4, and tests Thursday showed they were positive for the H5N1 virus, according to Tran Manh Giang, head of the city's animal health department. "Most of the poultry at the farm were ducklings and chickens under 10 days old, and had thus not been vaccinated yet," Giang said. Giang said authorities had culled the remaining 1,660 chickens and ducks at the farm, disinfected the area, and banned the transport of poultry from the neighborhood. "We are afraid the outbreak will expand to other farms in the district, in spite of the measures we have taken," Giang said. Bird flu outbreaks have been detected in 10 provinces since the beginning of this year, prompting local authorities to cull tens of thousands of ducks and chickens, according to the Agriculture Ministry's Animal Health Department.
