Thailand hopes to clear its last bird-flu outbreak within the next two days and the country's fast growing economy will not take a major hit from the epidemic, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday.
Thailand, the world's fourth biggest chicken exporter has slaughtered 26 million fowl and was confident the virus was under control, Thaksin said.
"There is only one red zone, in Bangkok at Lat Krabang. We hope to clear that within one or two days," Thaksin, accused by newspapers and the political opposition of covering up the outbreak, said in his weekly radio address to the nation.
Last week, Thailand, one of the worst hit of the eight Asian countries struck by the H5N1 virus which has also killed 18 people, had more than 140 of the "red zones", the 5km area around a confirmed outbreak within which the government orders the slaughter of all poultry.
Officials say they will go back over all the former red zones to make certain bird flu, which has killed at least five Thais as well as at least 13 Vietnamese, has been eradicated.
The government, which admits it was slow to realise there was a bird flu epidemic but says it acted swiftly once it did, is now trying to persuade people who have shunned poultry during the crisis to eat chicken again.
The Bangkok Post newspaper said army chefs across the country had been ordered to put chicken back on their menus in a bid to allay public fears.
Army chief General Chaisit Shinawatra had instructed mess halls to serve chicken at least three days a week to both officers and other ranks, it said.
"Soldiers will serve as role models in proving it was safe to eat well-cooked chickens," it quoted a military official as saying.
The government was also organizing "chicken-eating fairs" across the country yesterday in a bid to convince people that the experts are right to say well-cooked chicken and eggs pose no danger.
Apart from giving out free chicken, Thaksin himself was to prepare stir-fried chicken with eggs at the main event at Bangkok's Sanam Luang in the shadow of the Grand Palace.
However, Thaksin, who had dismissed the economic impact would be "minimal," admitted in his radio address it was possible it could be greater than anticipated initially, but he said he was confident growth this year would meet his eight percent target.
"In the worst case, the economy will grow six percent," he said. "But I assure you it should grow more than 7.5 percent."
"We will be trying to meet the eight percent growth target and I am confident we can," he said.
Analysts expect growth of seven percent this year after an estimated 6.3 percent rise last year.
Thailand, which rears one billion chickens a year and earns more than US$1 billion from poultry exports, has slaughtered 26 million birds, by far the greatest number of the 10 Asian countries struck by flu.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that at least 50 million poultry have been killed in Asia, including Taiwan and Pakistan, which have reported outbreaks of a milder strain which cannot cross the species barrier and infect humans.
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