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Hong Kong health workers begin mass culling of chickens
Authorities in Hong Kong began to cull tens of thousands of chickens on Wednesday, a move that comes soon after an outbreak of the deadly H5 bird flu virus.
- Agencies
- Published: 15:04 December 10, 2008
Hong Kong: Authorities in Hong Kong began to cull tens of thousands of chickens on Wednesday, a move that comes soon after an outbreak of the deadly H5 bird flu virus.
Health workers in masks began culling the poultry in a wholesale market on Wednesday. Culling also continued for the second day in areas within a 3 km radius of the infected farm.
Some 48,000 chickens had been killed by late afternoon, a government spokeswoman said, out of a total 80,000 birds that are meant to be culled.
China's southern Guangdong province has suspended all live poultry shipments to Hong Kong for 21 days to prevent any spread of the virus.
The outbreak, the first in five years in the city, occurred near the border with China despite mass vaccination of the birds.
Concerns that the virus may have mutated sparked following the outbreak. Laboratories in the city were trying to determine the precise identity of the H5 virus found at the farm.
Scientists in Hong Kong and mainland China are studying if new vaccines are needed to protect chickens against H5N1.
"If the study suggests that a new vaccine may provide better protection for chickens, we will select some to try out for a test trial of the new vaccine," Health Secretary York Chow said.
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