Hong Kong began killing 20,000 chickens and suspended imports of fresh poultry from mainland China for 21 days on Tuesday after the discovery of the H7N9 bird flu virus in a shipment of live chickens from the southern province of Guangdong.
Authorities also ordered the closure of the wholesale poultry market where they found the virus until February 18 for cleaning and disinfection and banned local farms from supplying live chickens to the market.
"Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department officers will inspect all the local chicken farms and collect more samples for testing to ensure that local farms are not affected by H7 avian influenza," Hong Kong Food and Health Secretary Dr. Ko Wing-man said in a statement.
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