Culling begins: 4,500 chickens to be killed as Hong Kong farm tests continue
Health chief hopes all results will be in before Tuen Ng Festival on Thursday
The culling of 4,500 live birds at the Cheung Shan Wan temporary wholesale poultry market began on Tuesday morning, after a faecal sample from a Tuen Mun market was confirmed to contain the potentially fatal H7N9 virus on Saturday.
Officers from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, who were dressed in full personal protective equipment, including protective clothing, goggles, masks and shields, arrived at the market in the morning to prepare for the operation.
Live chickens were placed in large plastic bins, which were then filled with carbon dioxide. The 48 local animals were killed first, followed by some 4,000 mainland poultry.
Officers from the Centre for Health Protection also arrived to monitor the health status of workers involved in the culling.
Health minister Dr Ko Wing-man said after a cross-departmental meeting on Monday that destruction of live poultry was part of the sanitisation measures.
He said trade would be resumed if test results from all samples collected at the 29 local chicken farms turned out to be negative. Ko had earlier said that rapid tests were expected to be completed in the next day or two.
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department has since completed inspections at all chicken farms in the city.
