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A spokesman for the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau said today (July 3) that it was planned to resume the import of live poultry, day-old chicks and pet birds from Guangdong Province to Hong Kong this Thursday (July 6). Live chickens would be available for sale in the retail markets on July 7.
The first Rest Day for live poultry retailers in July would also be advanced to this Thursday.
"After evaluating the current public health situation, including the confirmation that no new human case is found and no outbreak of avian influenza has occurred in the farms in Guangdong in the next few days, we will resume the import arrangements," the spokesman said.
"Hong Kong experts and veterinarians will, in the next two days, inspect the hygienic condition of the live poultry and breeder chicken farms in Guangdong and Shenzhen which supply live poultry to Hong Kong.
"The quantity of live poultry imports upon resumption would be the same as before, that is, the ceiling of live chicken imports would be capped at 20,000 per day and an average of 20,000 day-old chicks could be imported to Hong Kong daily.
"The first Rest Day in July is advanced to enable live poultry retailers to prepare for the resumption of live poultry imports from the Mainland," the spokesman said.
Rest Days are usually arranged on the 10th and 25th of each month for market stalls and fresh provision shops selling live poultry to suspend business and conduct thorough cleaning and disinfection.
Live poultry outlets would not be allowed to conduct business from noon on July 6 until the next morning.
The spokesman urged all live poultry retailers to strictly observe the Rest Day conditions.
"They must not remove any unsold live poultry from their premises to avoid slaughtering them before the start of the Rest Day.
"Staff from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department will inspect the poultry outlets. Failure to comply with the Rest Day conditions will lead to immediate cancellation of fresh provision shop licences or termination of market stall tenancies," the spokesman warned.
As a precaution, Hong Kong decided to suspend the import of live poultry, day-old chicks and pet birds from the Mainland for 21 days from June 16 after a confirmed H5N1 human case in Shenzhen on June 15.
Ends/Monday, July 3, 2006
Issued at HKT 18:38
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