Live chicken sales will resume on December 30, while imports of live poultry, including day-old chicks and pet birds, will resume a day earlier, the Food & Health Bureau says

Live chickens are still banned from entering or leaving the index farm in Ha Chuen in Yuen Long's Lau Fau Shan where chickens were confirmed to have been infected with avian influenza on December 9. The ban lasts for at least 90 days.

Before the farm can be reopened, veterinarians will inspect the farm's disinfection and cleansing condition. The farm must pass the virus tests and enhance its bio-security measures.

The Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation Department has conducted inspections on all local chicken farms to follow up their bio-security measures and collect samples for testing to ascertain whether the chickens can be put up for sale.

Three rounds of tests on the farms have been conducted, and the test results are all negative, according to the department.

The department believes the supply of live poultry could resume after the 21-day ban after assessing the hygienic condition of the local farms and consulting the investigation group responsible for looking into the avian influenza incident, as well as taking into consideration the negative test results of the samples collected from local farms and the relevant guidelines of the World Organisation for Animal Health.

Cheung Sha Wan poultry market cleaned

Thorough cleansing and disinfection will be conducted again at the Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Poultry Wholesale Market and all live poultry retail outlets before the resumption of live poultry sales.

The modification works of live poultry stocking areas at the wholesale market have also been completed.

Wholesalers should keep all live chickens to be stocked overnight at designated stocking areas, and all the chickens stocked in these areas must be sold and delivered out of the wholesale market no later than 7am on the following day.

After all the chickens are cleared, the stocking areas will be thoroughly cleansed and disinfected daily before the new batch of poultry to be stocked would be admitted into the areas.

Wholesalers are also required to strictly observe other relevant bio-security measures, including no overstocking of live poultry in cages, thorough cleansing and disinfection of cages after use and the wearing of gloves when touching live poultry.