Return of bird flu: Hong Kong slaughters 17,000 chickens after H5N1 virus is discovered at city market
- 2011 has seen a resurgence of the virus across Asia
- Infections are fatal in 60 per cent of human cases
Hong Kong health authorities have slaughtered more than 17,000 chickens after three birds were found to have died from the H5N1 bird flu strain in the past week.
The city is on high alert having raised its flu warning system level to ‘serious’ after a chicken carcass found at a bustling market tested positive for the virus.
It follows the discovery earlier this week of the bodies of an oriental magpie and a black-headed gull, both found at Hong Kong secondary schools, which also tested positive for the virus.
Precaution: Workers collect the bodies of slaughtered chickens at a poultry market in Hong Kong after a chicken carcass there was found to be infected with bird flu
Authorities have now banned live poultry imports for three weeks and are trying to determine whether the infected chicken was imported or came from one of Hong Kong’s 30 chicken farms.
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