A woman in Shenzhen has died after being infected with the highly contagious H5N6 bird flu virus. She died days after she was admitted to hospital, Hong Kong’s Health Department said today.
The 26-year-old woman’s death last week comes ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday in early February, a time when chicken features heavily on the festive menu.
All border check points between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and the airport, already has disease prevention measures with thermal imaging systems in place, a department spokesman said.
The Guangdong health authority also said on January 1 that a 40-year-old woman from Zhaoqing city was infected with H5N6 and was in a critical condition.
The Hong Kong government has not banned poultry imports from the mainland so far, according to a spokesman from the city’s Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.
Hong Kong culled thousands of chickens and suspended imports of live poultry from mainland China in December 2014 after a H7 bird flu strain was discovered in live chickens.