City reports no H5N1 threat as HK culls chickens

SHANGHAI is temporarily free from the threat of H5N1 virus, local agricultural authorities said this afternoon after Hong Kong issued a bird flu alert yesterday.
The Shanghai Agriculture Commission said they have set up check points on all the highways leading to the city and they also conduct bird flu checks regularly. No H5N1 case has been reported so far this year.
The Shanghai Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau said the city's two airports use remote temperature monitors check inbound travelers. No bird-flu patients have been detected this year.
Hong Kong is expected to destroy 17,000 live chickens infected by H5N1 virus today, said the local newspaper, Wen Wei Po, today.
The infected chickens were found in a wholesale market yesterday morning by officials from the Hong Kong Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department. A dead chicken was tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus.
All the 17,000 live chickens in the whole market need to be destroyed to prevent the virus from spreading, but officials couldn't confirm if any infected chicken had entered the retailed market.
Hong Kong stopped the sales of all live chicken yesterday.
In 1997, the first patient infected by H5N1 in the world was found in Hong Kong. Altogether, 18 people in the territory were infected and two of them died.


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