Bird flu outbreaks in two Mekong Delta provinces of Vietnam have been contained but the risk of recurrence there and elsewhere was still high, officials said yesterday.
Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat said in a report that the outbreaks had been brought under control in the Mekong Delta, where more than 9,000 ducks and chicken have been slaughtered since a first outbreak on Dec. 11.
The Animal Health Department said yesterday that bird flu was still present in five communes in the two Mekong Delta provinces.
The Agriculture Ministry's report also highlighted the risk of a bird flu recurrence in the Red River Delta in the country's north due to the widespread smuggling of poultry from China and the increased consumption of poultry during Lunar New Year in February. The outbreaks of the H5N1 virus were the first in Vietnam since August.
Meanwhile, several cases of avian flu have spread from poultry to humans in the Nile Delta, Egyptian health authorities said this week as they worked to wipe out the outbreak among chickens and ducks.
A 15-year-old girl died on Monday, a day after the death of a woman in her 30s whose family members also showed symptoms.
Egypt has reported nine confirmed human deaths from H5N1 avian flu this year.
A beauty queen who pulled out of the Miss South Africa competition when her nationality was questioned has said she wants to relocate to Nigeria, after coming second in the Miss Universe pageant while representing the West African country. Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, was crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania and was runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjar Theilvig in Mexico on Saturday night. The 23-year-old law student withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition in August, saying that she needed to protect herself and her family after the government alleged that her mother had stolen the identity of a South
BELT-TIGHTENING: Chinese investments in Cambodia are projected to drop to US$35 million in 2026 from more than US$420 million in 2021 At a ceremony in August, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet knelt to receive blessings from saffron-robed monks as fireworks and balloons heralded the breaking of ground for a canal he hoped would transform his country’s economic fortunes. Addressing hundreds of people waving the Cambodian flag, Hun Manet said China would contribute 49 percent to the funding of the Funan Techo Canal that would link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand and reduce Cambodia’s shipping reliance on Vietnam. Cambodia’s government estimates the strategic, if contentious, infrastructure project would cost US$1.7 billion, nearly 4 percent of the nation’s annual GDP. However, months later,
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HOPEFUL FOR PEACE: Zelenskiy said that the war would ‘end sooner’ with Trump and that Ukraine must do all it can to ensure the fighting ends next year Russia’s state-owned gas company Gazprom early yesterday suspended gas deliveries via Ukraine, Vienna-based utility OMV said, in a development that signals a fast-approaching end of Moscow’s last gas flows to Europe. Russia’s oldest gas-export route to Europe, a pipeline dating back to Soviet days via Ukraine, is set to shut at the end of this year. Ukraine has said it would not extend the transit agreement with Russian state-owned Gazprom to deprive Russia of profits that Kyiv says help to finance the war against it. Moscow’s suspension of gas for Austria, the main receiver of gas via Ukraine, means Russia now only
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