Taiwan on red alert after more bird flu cases in China

Taiwan declared a high alert against H7N9 bird flu after China reported increasing number of cases amid a travel rush from the mainland during the Tomb-sweeping Day holiday.
Taiwan's disease control authority asked airports medical staff to closely watch the health conditions of travellers, especially those from China, enhance checks on fever-looking travellers and inquire their travel history.
Taiwan has set up a special command center for the H7N9 bird flu to closely monitor the situation and listed H7N9 bird flu as a notifiable disease, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.
There have been no reported cases of the H7N9 strain of bird flu in Taiwan so far, said Chang Feng-yee, chief of the island's disease control authority.

As part of Taiwan's preventative efforts, it has also stepped up sanitisation of poultry farms across the island, especially in Zhanghua and Pingtung counties, where poultry farms abound.
China today reported 16 H7N9 cases nationwide in the first known human infections of the lesser-known strain.
So far, six people have died from the H7N9 infections in Shanghai and Zhejiang.