HANOI: Initial tests showed a man in northern Vietnam was contaminated by the bird flu virus, the first human case in more than three weeks, doctors said on Friday.

"Initial tests showed that the 55-year-old man from Vinh Phuc province was positive to the H5N1 virus," said doctors from the Institute of Tropical Diseases in Hanoi.

The patient was admitted to the Institute three days ago and was in stable condition.

His admission came as the hospital on Friday held a ceremony to discharge a 21-year-old H5N1 patient, who had been in a critical condition and whose close relatives too were infected with the deadly virus in February.

"We are very glad to be able to bring back Nguyen Sy Tuan to life," the doctor said, adding however, that it was a "pity that another H5N1 patient is being admitted at the same time."

The new case came one day after government officials said the country had reported no poultry or human bird flu cases for at least 21 days.

Health ministry official Pham Tuan Hung had however said the government was not declaring that the country was rid of the epidemic.

Vietnam suffered 36 of the 52 known human deaths from bird flu since late 2003. Recent research shows the virus is now seriously entrenched in Vietnam´s poultry population.

The disease has also killed 12 people in Thailand and four in Cambodia.