Bird flu shuts wholesale market

20,000 birds will be destroyed.

According to Secretary for Food & Health Dr Ko Wing-man, Cheung Sha Wan Poultry Wholesale Market will be shut for 21 days until February 18 after a batch of live chickens from Foshan, Guangdong was confirmed to have H7N9 avian influenza virus.

Briefing the media on the Government's measures to prevent the virus spread, Dr Ko said that all live poultry in the wholesale market at Cheung Sha Wan - about 20,000 birds - will be destroyed tomorrow.

Live poultry imports from the Mainland will be suspended during the market closure, and there will be no imports from Foshan's affected farm until it has been cleared of infection, he added.

Dr Ko said local farms will stop sending chickens to the wholesale market for three weeks and the Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation Department will collect more samples from the farms to monitor whether local poultry have been infected.

Centre for Health Protection officers will follow up on poultry wholesalers' and poultry market workers' health conditions.