BEIJING -- China has reported its first outbreak of bird flu in over six weeks after poultry were found dead in the far north of the country.

The H5N1 virus killed 985 chickens in a village in Baotou city in Inner Mongolia, the official Xinhua news agency reported Saturday, citing the Ministry of Agriculture.

Nearly 9,000 other chickens had been slaughtered to prevent the outbreak spreading, the ministry reportedly said.

No date was given for when the first signs of the bird flu appeared, but the virus was confirmed as H5N1 on Friday.

The infected area had been quarantined and the outbreak was under control, according to the ministry.

The last report of an outbreak of bird flu in China was on August 16, when the agriculture ministry said 200,000 fowl had been slaughtered at a duck farm in Hunan province, central China.

The latest case in Inner Mongolia brings to 39 the number of bird flu outbreaks among poultry in China since October last year.

Twenty-one people in China have contracted bird flu, and 14 of them died, according to official figures. The most recent fatality occurred in July in the western region of Xinjiang.

China confirmed in August that its first human bird flu victim died in late 2003, two years earlier than previously reported.