New bird flu outbreak in China - Xinhua

The outbreak was confirmed after tests on samples of poultry that died in the province's Changzi county showed they had the H5N1 virus, it said.

Xinhua said the local government had quarantined the infected area and veterinarians had begun culling poultry there to prevent possible new outbreaks.

The Ministry of Agriculture has also sent a team of experts to Changzi and reported the case to international organisations, Xinhua said.

China has reported about 40 outbreaks of bird flu in birds across a dozen provinces over the past year, and 12 people are known to have died from the virus while six have survived.

A human case of bird flu was confirmed on June 15 in the southern Guangdong Province, bringing the country's total human infections to 19.

According to Xinhua, China's chief veterinary officer Jia Youling said last week that the virus was on the rise among migratory birds this year.

A total of 1,168 migratory birds had been found dead in Qinghai and Tibet by June 1, it said.