(Recasts with confirmation of virus)

HANOI, March 7 (Reuters) - Bird flu has killed more than 1,000 chickens at two farms on the outskirts of Hanoi, the country's animal health authority said on Wednesday.

Health workers slaughtered scores of chickens at the farms in Dong Anh district after tests confirmed that the H5N1 virus had killed a total of 1,150 birds, the Animal Health Department said in its daily report.

"The Hanoi animal health department has coordinated with the local authority to destroy the remaining poultry, disinfect the outbreak area and closely monitor poultry and humans," the report said.

Vietnam has had no human cases of bird flu since November 2005, but the virus, which first arrived in late 2003, returned to poultry in the south late last year.

More infections were detected in ducks in the southern province of Vinh Long and in chickens in the northern provinces of Hai Duong and Ha Tay in the past three weeks.

On Feb. 27, all 550 chickens were slaughtered on a farm in Ha Tay province, the largest poultry supplier to Hanoi, officials said.

In late February, 10,500 infected chickens were killed in Hai Duong province, east of Hanoi.

Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat said last week the H5N1 virus existed throughout Vietnam, even though poultry vaccination had helped prevent its spread.

Vietnam is expected to start its next phase of vaccinating poultry in the second half of March and will allow the resumption of raising and hatching waterfowl from March 15.

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