Test session: A person is taken to hospital with "avian flu symptoms" in the outbreak exercise.

A full-scale drill has been conducted to test response capabilities to an avian flu outbreak in Hong Kong involving human infections.

About 250 participants from 12 government bureaux, departments and organisations, and a non-governmental body participated in the one-day exercise, with six experts from the Mainland and Macau observing.

The exercise scenario involved a woman staff member of a Fanling children's home who came down with avian flu symptoms after visiting a country where avian flu cases were reported. She was taken to Princess Margaret Hospital for isolation and treatment, and was later confirmed to have been infected.

A Serious Response Level Steering Committee meeting was held and it was decided that the children's home would be isolated and disinfected. Residents with symptoms were taken to the Hospital Authority Infectious Diseases Centre at Princess Margaret Hospital for isolation and treatment while those with no symptoms were transferred to Lady MacLehose Holiday Village for quarantine and medical surveillance.

Secretary for Food & Health Dr York Chow said the exercise was conducted in a smooth and satisfactory way.

"The exercise has been planned for quite some time, and is not [a response to] what happened in the last two weeks."

Director of Health Dr Lam Ping-yan said the drill gave participants an opportunity to test interdepartmental preparedness, co-ordination and co-operation.

"The efficiency of contingency operational protocols formulated by the departments and agencies concerned will be assessed. To meet the challenges from avian flu is a formidable task and we need to adopt an effective and multi-agency response to the disease," Dr Lam said.