January 30, 2004

 

 

Hong Kong Steps Up Bird Flu Prevention Measures

 

The Hong Kong government is taking pre-emptive steps to combat bird flu. Live chicken exports from China were suspended and the public banned from a nature reserve frequented by thousands of migratory birds.

 

Hong Kong, which is so far free from bird flu, has also prohibited local farms from supplying chicken meat, partly because of a glut as consumers eat less chicken amid fears of the disease.

 

"We are overcrowded with chickens right now," said Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Dr. Yeoh Eng-kiong. He added that there is "obviously a risk" that the avian flu, which has jumped to humans in Vietnam and in Thailand, could attack Hong Kong.

 

Yeoh said the suspensions from local farms and the neighboring Chinese province of Guangdong, the territory's main supplier of live chickens, will last at least a few days until "a balance of supply and demand is restored."

 

The suspensions follow public pressure on Yeoh to ban all poultry imports from China until the bird flu is under control. Local health experts and opposition lawmakers say the government underestimates the risk of avian flu spreading to Hong Kong - an accusation that the government denies.

 

The territory imports about 2.8 million chickens and up to 7,200 ducks and geese monthly from Guangdong.

 

Hong Kong has already banned imports of live poultry and poultry meat from the southern region of Guangxi, where China earlier this week detected its first case of bird flu.

 

Meanwhile, officials will stop the public from entering Hong Kong's scenic Mai Po nature reserve, famous for its migratory birds such as endangered black-faced spoonbills, amid speculation that the birds may carry the virus from country to country.

 

Officials have stepped up health checks on poultry and heightened surveillance in markets. All vendors who fail to wear protective gear including hand gloves, aprons and boots will lose their operating license, Yeoh said.

 

Hong Kong is on high alert for diseases spreading here from China after a mainland professor brought SARS to the territory early last year, leading to an outbreak that ultimately took 299 lives.

 

Bird flu is also feared because it struck Hong Kong earlier. In 1997, the disease crossed over from chickens to humans, killing six people and prompting officials to cull 1.4 million chickens.

 

Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to Chinese rule in 1997, but the two territories maintain separate political and health systems. Strict border controls remain.