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The Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, today (June 7) announced that five out of the 20 samples taken from cages of three poultry stalls in Po On Road Market in Sham Shui Po were tested positive of H5N1 avian influenza during the surveillance of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department.
There are nine poultry stalls in the Po On Road Market. So far, no problem has been found in the other stalls of the market.
The live chickens of the three concerned poultry stalls were reportedly come from five wholesalers in the Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market. The Government is tracing the source of the chickens to see whether they are from local or Mainland farms.
In view of the H5N1 avian influenza virus found in local market, the Government has raised the original alert response level to serious response level.
Dr Chow convened an inter-departmental meeting this morning to work out measures to address the issue. The concerned departments included the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD), the Department of Health (DH) and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD). The meeting had decided to adopt eight measures to protect public health.
These eight measures are:
(1) FEHD staff had to cordon off all poultry stalls in Po On Road Market this morning and prohibited the moving out of poultry. More samples had been taken for testing of H5N1 virus. The department had culled and destroyed about 2700 poultry from all the poultry stalls in Po On Road Market in the afternoon.
(2) In the morning, FEHD inspected 64 markets which have live poultry for sale and no abnormality was found. The staff of the department will take more samples for testing from these markets. If problems were detected in the coming one or two days, the Government would step up actions. More samples would also be taken at the wholesale market. AFCD would continue to trace the source of the chickens in question in the Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market and strengthen cleansing in the market.
(3) Live chicken imports from the Mainland would be suspended temporarily with immediate effect. At the same time, local farms would stop dispatching chickens to the market. The suspension would be effective for as long as 21 days to facilitate the tracing of chickens and thorough disinfection. During the period of live chicken import suspension, FEHD would field staff to inspect Mainland registered live poultry farms for supply to Hong Kong.
(4) FEHD has enhanced surveillance of poultry retail markets. The market rest day would be advanced to next Monday (June 9). Meanwhile, FEHD would also strengthen checking and testing of chilled poultry imported from the Mainland. AFCD has stepped up inspection on local farms and wholesale market. Thorough cleansing would be conducted at the Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market next Monday.
(5) The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has notified the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the Ministry of Agriculture of the case. They have been requested to demand the relevant inspection and quarantine bureaux to stay alert and take all necessary precautions to prevent avian influenza in registered live poultry farms for supply to Hong Kong.
(6) At the moment, there is no human case of avian influenza infection in Hong Kong. In view of the situation in Po On Road Market, it would be necessary to enhance testing of human infection of avian influenza. DH and the Hospital Authority would enhance the work on this front. Particular attention would be paid to the health condition of poultry workers in the affected market. The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) has called on members of the public to seek medical treatment immediately if they have influenza symptoms such as high fever. Public and private hospitals as well as clinics should report to CHP immediately when there is any suspected case of avian influenza. In addition, CHP has set up a hotline 2125 1122 to answer public enquiries and monitor public health condition.
(7) The Government calls on members of the public to avoid contacting live chickens. After contacting live chickens, they should wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water. Live chickens should also be thoroughly cooked before eating.
(8) The Customs and Excise Department would further step up efforts in cracking down on illegal import of poultry and birds.
Dr Chow noted that the established surveillance enabled the Government to detect the occurrence of avian influenza virus in market so that swift actions could be taken to prevent the spread of the virus.
"If another case of avian influenza is found in other retail market in Hong Kong, the Government will cull all the chickens in the retail level," he said.
Dr Chow reminded members of the public to pay extra attention to personal and environmental hygiene in guarding against avian influenza.
Ends/Saturday, June 7, 2008
Issued at HKT 22:35
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