Thailand´s latest rash of bird flu outbreaks is creeping close to Bangkok, a city of 10 million people, the Agriculture Ministry said on Thursday.

Its Livestock Department said on its Web site at www.dld.go.th the deadly H5N1 virus, which has killed 64 people in Asia, including 13 Thais, had broken out in free-range ducks and poultry on the outskirts of the city.

Laboratory results confirmed the virus in Nonthaburi and Samut Prakan provinces which abut the Thai capital, it said.

Since the beginning of last month, the virus has erupted in 10 of Thailand´s 76 provinces, mainly in central areas, although three were declared free of it after a 21-day surveillance period.

Laboratories are also testing samples from dead fowl in 41 other provinces, but officials say that is not a number which should cause great concern because they are being meticulous in checking any suspicious death.

The World Health Organisation says the H5N1 strain is endemic in poultry across much of Asia and it can only be a matter of time before it develops the ability to pass easily from human to human, which it cannot now.