China will restrict the number of live poultry markets and will gradually move them away from urban areas in large and medium-size cities in a renewed effort to combat the bird flu.

The State Council, in a newly-issued document, asked local governments to ban the construction of new live poultry markets in the country's urban areas.

Live poultry trading areas must be separated from other farming products in the marketplace in both the cities and countryside, and separate exits and entrances must be established, according to the document.

Marketplaces that fail to comply with the requirements must rectify their operation within a prescribed time limit, or they will be closed by relevant government departments.

The State Council also demanded veterinary inspection agencies at various levels to intensify their monitoring and quarantine of poultry products to insure no uncertified poultry products enter the market.

About 47,000 poultry birds were culled in ten outbreaks of bird flu in seven provinces on the Chinese mainland this year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Thirteen people have been infected with the bird flu this year. There were seven last year.

Source: Xinhua