January 14, 2004
Hong Kong Bans Japanese Poultry Following Bird Flu Outbreak
Hong Kong has banned Japanese poultry carcasses and meat imports today following the bird flu case in Japan.
The former British colony has also stepped up surveillance of local farms and markets to guard against "bird flu," which recently struck other parts of Asia including South Korea and Vietnam.
Poultry imports from South Korea were already halted in December and will continue to remain in place, the Hong Kong government said.
Hong Kong has not imported poultry from Vietnam since 2000.
The Hong Kong government said it has approached the relevant authorities in South Korea, Vietnam and Japan to obtain more information on the respective situations in those countries.
"As a precautionary measure, we have temporarily suspended the importation of live birds and poultry meat from these places," the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau said in a statement.
But a suspension of importation of table eggs is not necessary, said the bureau, referring to the Office International des Epizooties, the international authority on animal health and disease.
In fact, the territory imports live poultry only from mainland China across the border.
As another protection, all chickens coming into Hong Kong will be vaccinated from Thursday, said Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Yeoh Eng-kiong.
"We have increased our biosecurity measures," Yeoh told reporters.
"We have not seen any unusual deaths in the chickens in the markets. The chickens in the farms appear to be healthy and well," he said.
Hong Kong authorities received no reports of any H5N1 bird flu virus in poultry markets or farms in the past two months.
The city was hit by an outbreak of bird flu in 1997 when a strain of the virus jumped from poultry to humans, killing six people.
Health measures have been strengthened since then, including regular cleansing of the live poultry markets clean, vaccination of chickens in the farms and a comprehensive surveillance of bird flu.
