(Yicai Global) Feb. 2 -- An outbreak in Beijing of the type of bird flu that plagued Europe last year is under control, according to the city’s animal disease prevention agency.

Three black swans at the Old Summer Palace, a tourist site in Haidian district, died recently from the H5N8 virus, Beijing’s Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center said in a statement yesterday. 

Five other black swans, as well as some ducks and moorhens, are now in quarantine and a 6,000-square-meter area of the palace and garden complex is being disinfected three times a day.

Between Jan. 26 and 30, almost 260 samples from wild birds and the environment were collected, and none tested positive. 

Last year, many parts of the world including Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia reported outbreaks of the virus among poultry. H5N8 has not yet been found to transmit to humans, according to the World Health Organization.

Editor: Emmi Laine