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Hong Kong to Stage Bird Flu Drill

Posted on: Monday, 31 October 2005, 00:00 CST

By HELEN LUK

HONG KONG - Hong Kong announced plans for an emergency drill to prepare for a possible bird flu pandemic. China and several European countries tightened restrictions on poultry and fowl to prevent more outbreaks.

Dr. York Chow, Hong Kong's secretary for health, welfare and food, said the chances of a global flu epidemic originating in Hong Kong were slim but the government was concerned about it reaching the territory from outside.

"We hope to figure out what problems we should assume we'll have under the circumstances for this drill," Chow told reporters late Saturday after a top-level government meeting to discuss the issue.

He declined to reveal details of the exercise, to be held in late November. But the South China Morning Post said the government's preparedness for a pandemic calls for officials to assess the need to close schools and public places and cut back nonessential activities and services.

On Sunday, government workers distributed leaflets about bird flu prevention in several downtown districts.

Health experts have warned that the bird flu virus could mutate into a form that can be easily transmitted between humans. The H5N1 strain of avian flu, which has devastated poultry stocks and killed more than 60 people in parts of Asia, has been detected in birds in Russia, Romania, Croatia and Turkey.

Hong Kong has been extremely watchful for outbreaks in mainland China since SARS - or severe acute respiratory syndrome - crossed the border, killing nearly 300 people in the territory and ravaging its economy about two years ago.

China has recently reported three outbreaks of bird flu but no human cases.

Bird flu prevention teams fanned out across China's capital to ensure no wild birds were being sold, the newspaper Beijing News said Sunday. Nearly 200 wild birds were seized at a Beijing market on Saturday.

Beijing has banned the sale of wild birds, since it cannot guarantee they haven't come from bird flu-infected areas of the country, but markets are still permitted to sell live domesticated poultry.

Vietnam reported that two people in a central province had died after displaying symptoms of bird flu but were buried without the necessary tests to determine the cause of death.

Three European countries implemented measures to limit contact between local fowl and wild birds that might be infected with the disease.

Belgian authorities ordered fowl and poultry moved inside if they are within half a mile of a migratory bird zone. Bruges started moving its famed swans off its picturesque canals.

Germany started requiring all poultry kept outdoors drink only tap or rain water in case wild birds have infected lakes or rivers.

Slovakia's state veterinary authority demanded that free-range poultry be watered and fed under a cover away from wild birds. It also forbid workers at registered poultry farms to breed poultry at home.

On Monday, Australia's east coast city of Brisbane will host a forum of health and disaster officials from the Asia-Pacific region to coordinate the response to a possible human pandemic.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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