The comments follow warnings by health experts at the University of Hong Kong that the increased imports - coinciding with the reappearance of the H5N1 bird flu virus in Hong Kong two weeks ago in a dead bird - would raise the chance of human infection.

It also came as Agricultural, Fisheries and Conservation Department staff discovered more than 20 dead birds last week. Officials were unable to provide an exact count, but they said samples would be sent to government laboratories for testing.

Dr Chow said: 'Ideally, we also want to move towards . . . having no live chickens in markets, but at the moment, we have to balance risk with public demand.

'If we are able to limit risk to the last five days before the Lunar New Year, and we add extra cleaning and rest days for the markets, there should be no need to change our current policy.'

Officials were focusing their monitoring on birds in a 5km radius from where the infected magpie robin was found, since the species did not usually fly long distances, he said.

Leung Pak-yin, controller of the Centre for Health Protection, acknowledged on the sidelines of a government seminar on bird flu last week that the risk of people contracting the disease was higher with the re-emergence of the H5N1 virus.

This risk was also likely to be heightened by the increased number of people travelling to and from the mainland over the Lunar New Year, he added.

Doctors at the seminar widely agreed that a bird flu pandemic was inevitable given the emergence of cases around the world. But Dr Leung pointed out that it was difficult to predict when an outbreak would occur.

Angry Tai Po villagers have accused officials of leaving them in the dark after a bird found dead in the area two weeks ago tested positive for the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.

'It is inappropriate. They should have informed us earlier. We learned what happened from the TV instead,' said Yau Kam-ming, representative of Kam Shan Tsuen.

The dead bird was an oriental magpie robin, which are often seen in the village. 'You can hear them singing really loudly early in the morning ... There are dozens of them living at a nearby river,' Mr Yau said.

The residents say there is no chicken farm in the village, which is home to 2,000 people.

While the government said there were eight chicken farms in Kam Shan, Mr Yau insisted this was not the case.

'Everybody fears bird flu. Whenever we see a dead bird, we will immediately call for the government to pick it up,' he said, adding that he did not know who had informed the administration about the dead bird. A village meeting would be held to remind residents to be more careful, Mr Yau said.

Bird sellers in Mongkok said last week they were still buying and selling oriental magpie robins but fewer were now imported.

Ah Chan, who has sold birds for more than 20 years, said people only bought oriental magpie robins imported from Singapore or Malaysia as they were good to pit against each other in fights.

'There are plenty of [magpie] robins everywhere in Hong Kong but no one will catch them or buy them as they are not good at fighting,' he said.

The original versions of these two articles appeared in the South China Morning Post on January 22 and 20, respectively.

Factbox

The oriental magpie robin, or Copsychus saularis, is a small passerine, or perching, bird found in open woodland, cultivated areas and around human habitation in tropical southern Asia. It is a common species in Hong Kong, found mostly in recreational parks, says Ng Cho-lam, a member of the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society.

'This is a popular local species and many people keep it at home. This is something of a concern,' he said.

Birdwatchers said it is usually seen in large urban parks and in the countryside. This species is about 20cm long, including the long cocked tail.

Ways to handle birds:

Observe good personal hygiene and avoid contact with wild birds, their droppings and feathers. If you do come into contact with the above, you should thoroughly wash your hands with water and liquid soap, wet tissue paper (soaked with alcohol), or an alcohol-based handrub.

If you find a sick or dead wild bird, call the government hotline on 2477 2772. Health workers will arrange for the collection of the bird for laboratory testing.

Viewpoint

The University of Hong Kong's chair professor in community medicine, Anthony Hedley, said the death of the magpie robin could be an indicator of a new source of H5N1 in the city.

'It [increasing the import quota of live chickens] is not a sensible, reasonable public health decision. A sudden, 130 per cent increase would certainly increase the risk in handling the chickens, especially when the number of stalls has been cut from 850 to 550 under the government buy- back scheme.'

Markos Kyprianou, European commissioner for health and consumer safety, said: 'In some parts of the world, it is endemic. As long as there is virus around and it is being transmitted by migratory birds and by other means, then there is always a risk of infection and new outbreaks anywhere in the world . . . No country can feel safe, unless we manage to eradicate the disease worldwide. It is not a question of having one dead bird in Hong Kong, or one poultry outbreak, because these are just examples of an ongoing problem. It is the same with human cases, we are very concerned. Every time a human is infected, maybe we are getting closer to human-to-human transmission.'

Weblinks

homepage of the Centre for Health Protection

Food and Environmental Hygiene Department's website

get information on the worldwide bird flu epidemic from the World Health Organisation

Discussion

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