Bird flu confirmed in Shanghai

China has destroyed more than a million chickens

China has confirmed seven new outbreaks of bird flu in four regions including one on the financial centre, Shanghai, previously just a suspected case.

Fourteen of China's 31 regions have now confirmed outbreaks, but there have been no reports of cases in humans.

It came as the United Nations warned Asian countries not to relax in the war on the virus as Cambodia, Laos and Indonesia also reported new outbreaks.

The virus, H5N1, has killed 14 people in Vietnam and five in Thailand.

"The spread of the avian influenza virus in several Asian countries is still not under control," said the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

It urged countries "to remain vigilant as further outbreaks continue to occur".

The World Bank said on Friday it would lend Hanoi $10m to compensate farmers in Vietnam, where about 30 million poultry have been killed by the virus or culled.

Observation

In China, along with Shanghai, the northern city of Tianjin and the southern provinces of Yunnan and Guangdong were also affected.

The website of China's Ministry of Agriculture says more than 7,500 people had been put under medical observation after coming into close contact with infected birds.

Health experts have warned that controlling outbreaks of bird flu in China is essential because 80% of poultry are on household farms where people live close to animals.

So far more than 1.2 million chickens have been culled in China since the bird flu outbreak.

An estimated 80 million birds have been culled across Asia.