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Bird flu outbreaks have been reported in Quang Binh, Ha Tinh, Nam Dinh, and Ninh Binh provinces and Haiphong city. More than 140,000 chickens, ducks, and other birds have been culled.
About 100,000 birds are illegally imported into Vietnam every week via border provinces.
Tougher measures are needed to control the transportation of poultry though 90 percent of illegal poultry imports have been prevented over the past 10 days, Tan said.
Controlling the import of poultry into northern border provinces is an effective measure to stop the disease from spreading, he said.
He also raised concerns about the protection level of the bird flu vaccine for the virus strain in the northern region, which stands at 60-70 percent.
Meanwhile, blue ear pig disease is spreading quickly in Dak Lak and Nghe An provinces in the central region, and Cao Bang province in the north. Notably, 14 out of 15 districts in the Central Highland province of Dak Lak have been affected.
Tan asked the Animal Health Department to dispatch inspection missions to localities to quarantine and contain the disease immediately.
The MARD has supplied 70,000 doses of vaccine against blue ear pig disease.