LIVE CHICKENS begin arriving in the SAR from the mainland again this morning, a month to the day after the words 'bird flu' echoed through Hong Kong's markets for the second time in 3.5 years, reverberating around the world as epidemiologists weighed the potential for a deadly influenza pandemic.
The resumption of live-chicken imports is the most tangible sign so far that Hong Kong has again beaten back bird flu - but have we? Hygiene officials dare not celebrate, as there can be no guarantee of success in the struggle against that trickiest of enemies, the ever-changing flu virus. The battle can perhaps never be won, only waged.
Lily Yam Kwan Pui-ying, the Secretary for Environment and Food, made precisely this point on Monday when she announced the date live chickens would return to the SAR's markets. Mrs Yam, who has been leading local antiviral shock troops, used the occasion to emphasise that another bird-flu outbreak could occur and vigilance must be maintained.
The only 'guarantees' she could offer were that the Government's new hygiene measures, such as segregating different species of birds and closing markets one day per month for intense cleaning, would reduce the chances of another outbreak 'to a minimum'. Asked what that meant in practical terms - in other words, if 3.5 years have passed since the last outbreak, how long is the current reprieve likely to last? - Mrs Yam was clearly taken aback and said she could not offer 'an exact forecast'.
Lo Wing-lok, the legislator representing the medical sector and a physician specialising in infectious diseases, said Mrs Yam's most important point was there could be no promise of no further outbreaks. 'Maybe after one or two years of peace during which nothing happens, then we will forget . . . We will become complacent and lax, and allow conditions at markets to deteriorate,' he said. 'That's when the chance of a bird-flu outbreak will increase.'
Dr Lo, who is also president of the Medical Association, complained the latest measures were not 'drastic' enough and so implied Hong Kong was willing 'to accept filthy markets as part of our life'. 'The Government should be aiming for a long-term solution rather than a political compromise,' he said. 'This political compromise will harm the Government, the industry and the taxpayers.'
