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Following is the transcript of remarks (English portion) made by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, at a stand-up media session in the Legislative Council Building today (December 5):
Reporter: (on the supply of live pigs)
Secretary for Food and Health: The main concern is the difficulty in compromising among the suppliers, and the new supplier was only in place for a few weeks, so it is very difficult to be assured at this point in time when they can reach a consensus. Officers of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department were involved in the meetings and we have informed the relevant Mainland authorities of the situation. We hope that this can be resolved as soon as possible.
Reporter: Regarding the bird flu case in Jiangsu, how serious is this a threat to Hong Kong? What has the Government done?
Secretary for Food and Health: We have enquired about the epidemiology of this particular case in Jiangsu. We have yet to receive anything from the Ministry of Health, but we have been informed that there is no history of him (the patient) having been in contact with any sick poultry or birds. With winter coming and waterfowl being carriers of H5N1, we think the risk of having individual cases from the Mainland is predictable and would perhaps continue. The most important thing is that it would not affect the poultry supply of Hong Kong. The poultry farms designated for supplying Hong Kong and chicken farms in Hong Kong are under bio-security (measures), we are quite confident we can detect any early cases if it affects Hong Kong and take relevant measures to counter any cases that would happen in Hong Kong.
Reporter: (on avian influenza)
Secretary for Food and Health: So far there is no report of any change in mutation, or any increasing sign of human-to-human transmission.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript)
Ends/Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Issued at HKT 16:15
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