The government yesterday suspended imports of pet birds into Hong Kong as one of the additional precautionary measures to guard against an avian flu outbreak in Hong Kong.

Carrie Yau, permanent secretary for health, welfare and food, told the Legislative Council (LegCo) about the latest decision during a panel meeting yesterday.

In particular, a new licensing condition will be enforced today to require all pet-bird sellers to put on gloves when handling birds and their droppings, she added.

At the renowned Bird Garden in Mongkok, Kowloon, where pet-bird shops concentrate, extra precautionary measures will be taken, said a statement issued by the government yesterday.

"Apart from the daily cleaning and two special cleaning operations each week, the frequency of daily cleaning has been stepped up. Inspection of the stalls in the garden will be strengthened," it said.

Arrangements have also been made for poultry and pet bird handlers to receive free anti-flu jabs.

While imports of live birds and poultry meat have already been suspended from the mainland, the supply of local live chickens will resume on Friday.

Hong Kong banned local farms from supplying chickens to markets and halted all poultry imports from the mainland last Friday.

While the move reduced exposure to infected birds, local farmers and traders complained of huge economic losses and of being unfairly punished when not a single locally farmed bird had been found with the disease, which has killed 12 people in Asia.

Before the resumption of the market, local poultry markets will be thoroughly cleansed and sterilized on Thursday.

Chicken retailers are advised to slaughter all live chickens by the rest day, so the market can start anew with a fresh supply of live chickens, said Gregory Leung, director of food and environmental hygiene during the panel meeting at LegCo yesterday.

But the supply will be temporarily under control, subject to the level of market demand to avoid the build-up of a backlog of unsold chickens in the market which, the government said, is a risk of creating a breeding ground for the bird flu virus.

"The daily supply into the market would be 30,000 initially, if we took the purchase volume on Sunday as the yardstick," he predicted.

Quick tests will be conducted on chickens from local farms to make sure that there is no presence of the H5 virus before they are marketed, the government statement said.

Yet the import of chilled poultry meat will continue to be suspended for an indefinite period of time, depending on the epidemic situation in neighbouring countries and regions, said Leung.

Meanwhile, the broadcasting and posting of community service announcements prepared by the government will be frequently aired and displayed to advise the public to wash their hands thoroughly and immediately after purchasing live poultry.

They will also remind the public not to feed wild birds.

(China Daily HK Edition February 3, 2004)