Hong Kong culls chickens, suspends imports after H7 bird flu found

Hong Kong began culling 15,000 chickens on Wednesday and suspended imports of live poultry from mainland China for 21 days after the H7 bird flu strain was discovered in a batch of live chickens. Authorities also ordered the closure of the wholesale poultry market, where the virus was discovered, for 21 days for cleaning and disinfection. Secretary for Food and Health Ko Wing-man said the chickens were imported from a farm in Huizhou city across the border from Hong Kong.

The department will conduct inspections as well as collect additional samples from all the 29 registered live chicken farms in Hong Kong to ensure that they are not affected by H7 influenza.

Secretary for Food and Health Ko Wing-man

Hong Kong confirmed its first case of deadly bird flu this winter at the weekend after a woman fell critically ill with the H7N9 strain of bird flu. It was suspected she caught the disease in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, where she recently visited and consumed chicken. The city’s authorities had culled 20,000 poultry in January this year when birds imported from the mainland were found to have the H7N9 strain. Hong Kong authorities usually cull birds by suffocating them in black bags filled with carbon dioxide.

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