***************************************
Following is a transcript of the remarks made by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, at a media session at the Central Government Offices today (February 3):
Dr Yeoh: I was saying that we have a very tight surveillance system. The colleagues from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department are keeping very close tabs on our farms and markets and they are regularly going to the markets to look for any signs of dead chickens. We take a lot of swabs every day to test whether there is H5N1 in the markets and all have been negative. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department have been visiting the farms regularly to check the sentinel chickens because all our chickens in our farms are now vaccinated to protect against avian flu, but in each of the batches we have these sentinel chickens that are not vaccinated and examine them to make sure that they are well. So this will keep assurance there is no outbreak of avian flu in the markets and before the chickens come out from our farms, they are also tested to see whether they have the antibodies, they also take swabs to see if there is the virus, so all these proceedings. And of course, we have these sites where some of the farmers will deposit dead chickens. As you know, colleagues in the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department tell us that chickens under 30 days old are very susceptible to many conditions in the environment and there is a very high mortality rate. So at these sites where they will deposit these chickens, these young chickens, and in the last two or three days we have some of these chicks deposited there. The department has taken these chicks to examine to see whether there is any chance of H5N1 virus infections and the tests have all been negative. So these are all the things that have been done.
Reporter: (......indication that the virus has passed to pigs?)
Dr Yeoh: The issue of transmission of the avian flu is from infected birds. All the infections have been from infected birds. There are always theoretical risks of everything occurring because the contamination in the environment is one possible source, but the bigger risk to human beings is through live poultry and being in very close proximity to live poultry.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion)
Ends/Tuesday, February 3, 2004
NNNN
