With recent reports in major Chinese newspapers on outbreaks of bird flu and foot and mouth disease, concerns have arisen that the Chinese Communist Party will employ cover-ups as it did with the SARS incident in 2003.

World health organizations and the United Nations are paying attention to the situation.

The Chinese government has officially verified that there is an outbreak of bird flu affecting bird species in Qinghai and that foot and mouth disease is affecting livestock in Shandong and Jiangsu provinces. Authorities have denied the incident outbreak of foot and mouth disease on the outskirts of Beijing, although it has been widely reported by media.

The government has strengthened measures to control the spread of the epidemic. On May 25, authorities in Guangzhou and Shanghai, and in Hebei province issued emergency instructions requesting that measures taken to sanitize bird species be bolstered and that contact between wild birds, poultry and humans be prevented. Similarly, many of the villages in the outskirts of Beijing where foot and mouth disease have been reported have been cordoned off. Outsiders were prohibited from entering and interviews have not been allowed.

On the May 4, the China agricultural ministry received reports of the unusual deaths of 178 bar-headed geese on the Qinghai lake bird island. On May 21, it was announced that the cause of the deaths of wild migrating birds in Qinghai was the H5N1 bird flu virus. After investigation, it was discovered that 519 migrating birds have died from the virus.

According to reports by Voice of America on May 24, the health ministry officer firmly denied reports of more than 100 human deaths from bird flu in the Qinghai region. However, the health department in Qinghai province has requested that all levels of medical and health organizations be on the alert for cases of flu, fever and other unknown cases of pneumonia. Such cases have to be registered, investigated and diagnosed. Once an incident of the disease is suspected, it must be immediately reported, quarantined and treated. At the same time, safety measures must be taken for those treating the patient.

According to reports by Radio Free Asia, relevant authorities in China have tightly blocked off all news, prohibiting the family members of patients from speaking to outsiders. While conducting interviews, RFA's reporters discovered that the telephone connection in the area of Quanji village (one of the reported epidemic regions) is abnormal.

The spokesperson for the World Health Organization stationed in Beijing said recently, when he learned of Internet reports that 120 people in Qinghai had the H5N1 virus and died, he had sought to obtain more information from China's Ministry of Health and urged them to provide the WHO with samples of the virus so that tests and comparisons could be made.

Meanwhile, after it was reported that cows imported from China to Hong Kong were found to have foot and mouth disease, the agricultural department in China verified that there was a small outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Jiangsu and Shandong provinces; 183 and 40 cows were killed in the two provinces, respectively.

On May 24, a report by Hong Kong newspapers pointed out that an outbreak of foot and mouth disease had been discovered in the outskirts of Beijing, Yanqing region Jiuxian county. Reuters and the International Herald Tribune also reported thousands of cows being killed in outskirts of Beijing. Villagers said that Jiuxian county was cordoned off. People and vehicles were prohibited from entering and leaving. A reporter for a Hong Kong newspaper tried to conduct an interview but was stopped by policemen and security officers on the road 10 miles from Yanqing region. A local resident said, five or six villages were blocked off.

The Wall Street Journal reported on May 24 that Chinese authorities have treated the current epidemic with the same tactics as in the SARS outbreak. After it was found in Hong Kong that meat imported from China had foot and mouth disease, authorities had no choice but to publicly admit the fact. In March, 16 cows imported from China into Hong Kong were found to be infected with the Type 1 Asia foot and mouth disease. This led to 7,147 pigs, 560 cows and 120 lambs in the same slaughterhouse in Hong Kong being killed.