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Following is the transcript of remarks made by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, after attending a public function this morning (February 23):
Reporter: (On temporary facilities for separate holding of imported and local live poultry and permanent ban of imported chickens)
Secretary for Food and Health: You are talking about two separate issues. Firstly, the Government suspended earlier the operation of the (Cheung Sha Wan Temporary) Wholesale Poultry Market because a specimen from a batch of imported poultry from the Mainland was tested positive (for H7 avian influenza virus). This led to the closure of the Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market (for three weeks), causing (financial) hardship to poultry trade workers as well as interruption in live chicken supply to Hong Kong. There is wide-spreading opinion, considering that we should identify a means to separate the imported poultry from the local poultry before the testing results for avian influenza are available. Along this direction, we are trying to identify places where we can hold the imported poultry temporarily before the testing results are available. Regarding the question on whether Hong Kong could be self-sustained by our local supply, without any need to import live poultry from other places, including the Mainland. This is something that I have strong reservation. Although we have introduced various infection control measures against avian influenza, there is no guarantee of zero risk (among poultry).
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Sunday, February 23, 2014
Issued at HKT 15:40
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