Six provinces that have been considered as bird flu control zones will be removed from the list by the end of the week, said the livestock department.

The six provinces, namely Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani, Sukhothai, Uttaradit Mukdahan and Phitsanulok will be declared free of the disease after no new infection cases were found there for 21 consecutive days, Yukol Limlamthong, head of the department was quoted by Tuesday's The Nation newspaper as saying.Yukol said 11 location in five other province will also be declared free of the epidemic this week.

During the second round of bird flu outbreak, 65 spots in 23 provinces of Thailand have been hit by the fatal disease.

Relevant authorities have reacted effectively in coping with reemergence of bird flu, said Yukol, adding that more provinces will be gradually removed from the infection list in the future.

More than 160,000 birds have been culled or died after new round of bird flu rekindled the country on July 6.

Most poultry farms in Thailand were heavily hit by the bird flu crisis breaking out at the beginning of this year.

An estimated total of some 50-60 million birds were culled during the epidemic outbreak, which caused no less than 880 million US dollars loss to the kingdom's poultry industry.

Source: Xinhua