Live chicken supply suspended in Hong Kong after sample tests positive for bird flu virus
Sample taken from Yan Oi Market in Tuen Mun tests positive for H7 virus, which could result in cull of all poultry in Cheung Sha Wan wholesale market
The city will suspend its live chicken supply on Sunday after a bird faeces sample from a Tuen Mun market tested positive for H7 bird flu virus, the Post has learnt.
A source said the sample was taken from Yan Oi Market last month. As a result of the finding, there may be a cull of all the live chickens in the Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market.
The Post has learned that the government had not made a final decision on how long the suspension would last, but normal government practice was that a 21-day suspension should follow the discovery of bird flu viruses.
It remains unclear which type of H7 virus was found in the sample. The government had not made any official announcement or replied to a Post request for comments.
The last time Hong Kong suspended live chicken supply was between December 2014 and January last year, after samples from a batch imported from Huizhou in Guangdong tested positive to H7N9 virus. About 79,000 chickens at Cheung Sha Wan were culled.