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The following is the transcript of the English portion of the question-and-answer session given at a press stand-up briefing by the Secretary for the Environment and Food, Mrs Lily Yam, today (May 17).

Q¡J ¡K¡Kunder slaughter of the poultry in Wong Tai Sin market?

SEF: We are waiting for the post- mortem results.

Q: ¡K¡K

SEF: We have to act on the basis of confirmatory evidence and in a situation like this, there are always people who would come out and the action is too slow. If we have acted earlier, equally people would come out and say we are panic. We acted too fast in the absence of sufficient evidence that would justify such an action.

Q: ¡K¡K¡K

SEF: I have already answered your question. We are still waiting for the post-mortem result.

Q : ¡K¡K¡K

SEF: Well, we are waiting for the result of the post-mortem. And at the present stage, I would not rule out similar action. Thank you.

(Please also refer to the part of Chinese version)

End/Thursday, May 17, 2001

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