Some 40,000 live chickens were delivered from 18 local farms to
the wholesale market in Hong Kong yesterday evening to be ready for
sale today.
Prior to the delivery, poultry retail markets were thoroughly
cleaned to guard against avian flu.
The government said chickens delivered to the Cheung Sha Wan
Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market have been tested by samples to
make sure that there is no presence of the H5 avian influenza
virus.
The government banned the supply of local live chickens last
Friday. The move incurred complaints from farmers of being unfairly
punished as no infected bird has been found in the territory.
After the resumption of deliveries today, the supply volume will
be subject to temporary controls depending on the volume of sales
at the close of business today.
But with exports of live mainland chickens to Hong Kong already
embargoed, the supply of merely 40,000 live chickens is expected to
push up prices once they hit the market, said Tsui Ming-tuen,
chairman of the Hong Kong Poultry Wholesalers' Association
yesterday.
This can be predicted by past sales records on days immediately
after rest days when market stalls are closed for thorough
cleaning, he said.
The local market can absorb as many as 150,000 to 200,000 live
chickens, he said.
As sales resume, the government said its disease prevention work
is to be beefed up to spare Hong Kong from any human or animal
infection.
One of the efforts is collecting dead chickens from local farms
by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation.
The practice, having started from yesterday, will allow the
government to better monitor chicken deaths and check the spread of
bird flu virus.
A total of 1,000 dead chickens were collected from 31 local
farms yesterday.
One of the farms reported 550 deaths out of a total of 13,000,
but a government spokesman said the chickens, all small ones, might
have died from other disease.
Despite that Hong Kong is free from the bird flu, the United
States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has decided to
include Hong Kong in its bird embargo notice.
Yeoh Eng-kiong, secretary for health, welfare and food,
yesterday criticized the decision as unjustifiable.
"The measures we have adopted have been effective in averting an
H5 avian influenza outbreak in Hong Kong despite the extensive and
rapid spread of the disease in the region," he stressed.
In another development, a clinical team of four leading Hong
Kong experts will visit Viet Nam from February 8-13 to assist
doctors there in the clinical aspects of human avian influenza at
the request of the country's Ministry of Health, according to a
government statement.
The team's activities will include visits to major hospitals in
Hanoi, lectures, training sessions and ward rounds.
(China Daily HK Edition February 6, 2004)