A special cleanup was held yesterday in Mong Kok and Sham Shui Po, where most of the 13 dead birds that tested positive for H5N1 bird flu this year were found. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department undertook the special cleaning operations with the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, the Housing Department and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. Eight of 13 dead birds that tested H5N1 positive among 2,660 samples collected in the first two months of this year were found in Sham Shui Po and Mong Kok, three more than for the same period last year. Among 2,980 dead birds tested in the first two months of last year, five out of the 16 carcasses found to have bird flu were picked up in Sham Shui Po and Mong Kok. Assistant agriculture director Thomas Sit Hon-chung said there had been no sign of a bird flu outbreak in the city so far. He did not believe the figures suggested the risk of bird flu was particularly high in those two districts. He said the department would step up cleaning in Boundary Street, Lai On Estate, Pak Tin Estate and Yee Kok Court, where the carcasses were found, over the next seven to 10 days. The department also would keep up inspections Yuen Po Street Bird Garden in Mong Kok for any abnormal rise in bird deaths. Lai On Estate resident Ngan Muk-kam, 75, who often spends his afternoons in the park, said he was not worried, as cleaners washed the ground every day. Since February 10, all imported birds for sale in the Yuen Po Street Bird Garden have had to carry a health certificate. Five verbal warnings have been given to shop owners in the bird garden for infringing the regulation.
