HK steps up bird flu drills, monitoring, hygiene, culling
31/10/2005 7:59
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government is stepping up
efforts to prevent the possible outbreak of bird flu.
Though no bird flu case
has been reported in Hong Kong, the government of the city, which experienced a
SARS outbreak in 2003, has called on its departments to take measures to prevent
the bird flu.
All private clinics are required to report possible bird flu
cases.
The Hospital Authority has conducted regular drills on reporting an
epidemic outbreak and on coordinating to control the disease, seeking to raise
the alert level and preparedness of medical staff.
The Hospital Authority
will launch two drill in two public hospitals on November 8, simulating a
scenario in which hospitals admit patients with bird flu.
Hong Kong is to
hold a large-scale exercise at the end of November to counter a simulated bird
flu pandemic.
York Chow, secretary for health, welfare and food, said on
Saturday that the exercise will be conducted jointly by the government,
communities and several hospitals. Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang will
take part.
Chow said the possibility of a new round of flu outbreak is quite
low, but the Hong Kong government still will make thorough preparations.
The
government distributed leaflets on bird flu in Causeway Bay, Central, and Tsim
Sha Tsui areas yesterday.
The leaflets, entitled "What You Should Know about
Avian Flu," was printed in Chinese, English, Thai, Indonesian, Nepalese, Hindi
and Urdu.
In Sham Shui Po, an area with hundreds of crows, the Agriculture,
Fisheries and Conservation Department began to kill some birds to reduce the
risk of disease, though the authority has not found the H5N1 virus in Hong Kong
so far.
"Good preparation and prevention can help avoid an outbreak.
Government preventive measures have been effective so far, but it is further
tightening controls on the virus," said Carrie Yau, permanent secretary for
Health, Welfare and Food.
Yau said that if neighboring Guangdong Province
reports bird flu, Hong Kong would immediately stop livestock imports.
If two
cases of H5N1 cases are reported in Hong Kong poultry farms, the government will
cull all chickens in the farms, and all live poultry on the retail market will
be culled soon after a case is reported.
Xinhua
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