(CN-HKG) Bird FLu Slaughter

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South China Morning Post. http://www.scmp.org/ Friday, May 18, 2001

Virus spread prompts mass slaughter

by NIKI LAW and REUTERS

Last updated at 4.50pm:

 

A total of 1.2 million poultry will be slaughtered to prevent the

further spread of the H5N1 bird flu virus, the Government announced on

Friday.

 

Secretary for the Environment and Food, Lily Yam Kwan Pui-ying said

the decision for drastic action, to be completed by Monday, was due to the

rapid spread of the virus.

 

''The fact that infected poultry were found in the New Territories,

Kowloon and Hong Kong Island signifies a rapid spread of the virus,'' Mrs

Yam said.

 

By the end of Friday night all the poultry of ten infected food

markets will be destroyed.

 

The slaughter of every single chicken, goose, duck and quail in the

SAR, likely to be mature enough to be sold within the next few weeks, will

then take place on Saturday.

 

Mrs Yam also banned all poultry exports from the mainland. ''This is

does not mean the virus comes from mainland [chicken], because it can be

transmitted by air.'' However, no infected chicken had been found on any

farm in the SAR, she said.

 

Hong Kong consumes around 100,000 fresh chickens a day and imports

around 70 per cent of its poultry from the mainland. Poultry on SAR farms

would be dealt with last - on Monday.

 

Mrs Yam stressed the virus would not affect humans, and was different

from a deadly strain of H5N1 that killed six people in Hong Kong in late

1997 and early 1998, and led to the culling of all 1.4 million of the

territory's poultry, but she said public confidence was a major reason for

taking the decision, which will cost the Government $80 million in

compensation paid to vendors.

 

''Although the Government and medical experts have been reassuring the

public that the strain of H5N1 poses no health risk, public confidence is

badly shaken as shown by the dwindling poultry sales,'' she said.

 

The markets closed down on Friday include a Tai Shing Street market in

Wong Tai Sin, two markets in Tuen Mun, two in Shamshuipo, one in Kwun Tong,

and one in Wan Chai.

 

The decision to close the seven markets on Friday was made after lab

reports came back on 70 chickens which died yesterday in Wong Tai Sin. One

hundred more died there today.

 

Three markets were shut down and more than 6,000 chickens slaughtered

on Wednesday after 797 birds died from the virus the previous day.