The World Health Organisation (WHO), which fears that the H5N1 virus could trigger a pandemic killing millions, said that Vietnam was at a critical juncture. The country is preparing to celebrate the Tet Lunar new year festivities next week, during which chicken is eaten, and there is growing concern that many more people will be handling infected fowl.

Almost all human victims, of whom about 80 per cent have died, contracted the disease from direct contact with infected fowl. A WHO spokesman, Peter Cordingly, said: “We understand why this is being done, because for many families the chickens in their backyards are their main source of food. We are advising governments in the region that the message must go out that people have to be more careful.” This is the third time that Vietnam has suffered an outbreak of the H5N1 virus since the strain arrived in Asia at the end of 2003. So far 45 people have died in the area — 32 in Vietnam, 12 in Thailand and one Cambodian.

Vietnam, which will host a conference on bird flu in Ho Chi Minh City on February 23, has asked for equipment, help in surveillance and other forms of expertise. Meanwhile, authorities are set to slaughter more than 200,000 ducks in Ho Chi Minh City by Sunday. Checkpoints have also been set up around the city to prevent farmers bringing in live fowl.

Officials in Cambodia said that tests at the home of a woman from Phnom Pehn, who became the country’s first victim of the strain, had proved negative. But, they said, more tests were being conducted on poultry in Kampot province along the border with Vietnam.

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