21.12.2011

Hong Kong culled more than 19,000 birds and banned the sale and import of live poultry until Jan. 12 after the H5N1 avian influenza virus was found in a chicken carcass at a wholesale market.
In 1997, the government ordered all poultry in Hong Kong to be culled. Public hospitals in the city activated their “serious” response level and enhanced surveillance after the government discovered the H5N1-infected chicken carcass in Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market, in the western part of Kowloon. The market was declared an infected area. A total of 15,569 chickens, 1,122 silky fowl, 1,950 pheasants and 810 pigeons were destroyed at the market. The market will be closed until Jan. 12. The ban on live poultry came a day before the winter solstice, when many Chinese families hold a traditional feast that includes chicken dishes.