China had no comment yesterday on reports that bird flu had killed one person in Guangzhou and left several others seriously ill. The Ministry of Health said no one could respond to the CNN report because of the Christmas and New Year holidays. Dr Keiji Fukuda, of the Centres for Disease Control in Atlanta, yesterday told Taiwanese newspapers 1.7 million chickens were reported to have died of bird flu on the mainland. Experts with China's national influenza centre insisted no human cases of bird flu had been found. The mainland will issue a notice over the next two days to stop Hong Kong visitors carrying poultry into China. Meanwhile, the outbreak of the bird flu provoked Thailand's Bangkok International Airport to impose checks on SAR visitors. Both South Africa and the United Arab Emirates banned the import of poultry from Hong Kong and China.