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The Government has invited the public to give their views on strategic approaches that would help achieve the long-term vision of sustaining "zero infection and transmission" of avian influenza through minimising human contact with live poultry.

Launching the consultation exercise at a press conference today (April 2), the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, said: "Public health has always been a primary concern of the Government, which is committed to protecting people from infection by avian influenza."

The World Health Organisation noted the recent outbreaks of avian influenza in poultry across Asia were unprecedented and the human infections in Vietnam and Thailand had aroused great concern over the risk of avian influenza viruses jumping across species to infect humans.

"Chances are high that avian influenza would become endemic in poultry in the region. Hong Kong will be susceptible to avian influenza outbreaks again in the future unless additional preventive measure are adopted," Dr Yeoh said.

He pointed out that the vaccines currently given to chickens did not confer protection from all kinds of avian influenza virus nor could it eliminate the possibility of virus reassortment and mutation.

"There remains a risk that humans might be infected by avian influenza," he said, adding the retail outlets that sell live poultry posed the greatest risk.

To minimise such risk, Dr Yeoh outlined the following two major strategic approaches to achieve the policy objective:

Approach A: All live poultry will be slaughtered and undergo a chilling process in a slaughterhouse. Retail outlets would only be allowed to sell chilled poultry at a temperature between zero and four degrees Celsius ("cold chain approach").

Approach B: All live poultry will be slaughtered and dressed at regional slaughtering hubs. Consumers would have a choice of purchasing either chilled chickens or freshly slaughtered chickens that would not have to undergo a chilling process. Consumers can purchase freshly slaughtered chickens from the retail outlets located at the slaughtering hubs or have them delivered to their homes/restaurants by vehicles with usual refrigeration facilities ("freshly slaughtered chicken approach"). In the long term, the Government intends to remove existing poultry farms from populated areas and locate them in more remote areas to further keep live poultry from humans and facilitate management.

Dr Yeoh said the close contact between the general public and live poultry would be reduced to a greater extent under the "cold chain approach".

The capital cost of building a central slaughterhouse would be lower than building several regional slaughterhouses as required under the "freshly slaughtered chicken approach", he added.

In the interim, the Government would put in place the following immediate and medium-term improvement measures to reduce the potential threat of avian influence to humans:

* reducing the number of live chickens in each poultry stall in the retail markets;

* reducing the number of live poultry stalls in retail markets through a voluntary buy-out package and redesigning the stall layout to provide for segregation between customers and live poultry;

* increasing the number of rest days per month;

* strengthening enforcement action against breaches of hygiene-related tenancy/licensing conditions;

* requiring a minimum distance (say, one metre) to be kept between live poultry cages and customers at retail outlets or segregation of live poultry from customers by means of acrylic panels;

* planning to separate the wholesale markets for local and Mainland chickens;

* further strengthening the biosecurity of local poultry farms to the highest standard and refusing to renew the licences of those who fail to meet the new standards; and

* reviewing the transportation system for the conveyance of live poultry.

Acknowledging that either long-term approach would have an impact on the live poultry trade, Dr Yeoh said the Government would formulate a financial package to offer some form of financial assistance to traders affected.

He urged members of the public to give their views and comments on the strategic approaches.

"Depending on the preference of the community, we will then proceed to develop the implementation details and operational requirements of the strategic approach," he said.

Copies of the consultation document and leaflet "Prevention of Avian Influenza: Long Term Direction to Minimise the Risk of Human Infection" can be downloaded from the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau's website at www.hwfb.gov.hk and is available for collection at the following places:

* Public Enquiry Service Centres of the Home Affairs Department;

* Major public libraries;

* District Offices of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department; and

* Maternal and Child Health Centres of the Department of Health.

The public can send their views to the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau by mail to 10/F, Citibank Tower, 3 Garden Road, Hong Kong; by facsimile to 2136 3282; or by email to avian_flu@hwfb.gov.hk. The deadline for submission is July 2, 2004.

Hong Kong has experienced four highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks in poultry since 1997. Human infection of H5N1 was detected in the 1997 outbreak in which 18 people developed the disease, and six subsequently died.

On avian influenza, the Government spent a total of $246 million for compensation and ex-gratia allowances to the live poultry traders, waived rental charges amounting to $27 million and incurred operational expenses of $45 million to control previous outbreaks since 1997. In 2002-03, the recurrent expenditure on the preventive and surveillance programme was about $39 million.

Ends/Friday, April 2, 2004

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( Floor / Cantonese / Putonghua / English )