Authorities in Hong Kong, battling theworst outbreak of avian flu in five years, have ordered the slaughter of alllive birds in the city's markets and banned the sale of live poultry. In 1997,the city was the first place to report human cases of bird flu. Although the current outbreak is only infowl, some critics say the government has acted too slowly. Others say the saleban is hurting business. VOA's Kate Pound Dawson has this report, prepared byproducer Pros Laput in Hong Kong.

Within days after the deadly H5N1 strain wasdiscovered, all live chickens in Hong Kong markets had been killed and importsof live poultry from mainland China were suspended.

York Chow

"In our surveillance we were able to detect H5N1in our environment," said York Chow, Hong Kong's Food and Health Secretary. "We are able to …very quickly show that in fourof the markets, that they have very similar virus. And that's the reason why wetook very timely action to cull all the chicken and make sure the public issafe."

China is the main source of Honk Kong's poultry. The government's order did not apply tosales of pre-slaughtered and packaged poultry.

Infectious disease expert Dr. Lo Wing-lok says thegovernment did not move fast enough. 

"In the past, should there be human cases ofH5N1 in Guangdong, all poultry importation from Guangdong will be stopped. Butnow this no longer stands," Lo added.

Dr. Lo Wing-lok

Lo says the government had too much confidence in itssystem of certifying poultry farms in mainland China. A farm there can sendpoultry to Hong Kong unless the bird flu virus is found on the farm.

"This is a big mistake because ... there couldbe a mixture of poultry from authorized farm and poultry from unauthorized farmall in the name of the authorized farm," Lo explains.

One man's family has sold chickens here for morethan 30 years. He says illegal chickensare being brought into the city to meet the demand for fresh poultry.

A live chicken retailer said, "And with thedemand-supply theory, since the price keeps going up, there will be smugglingfor sure."

Outside the Legislative Council building, he andother chicken sellers call on the government to produce a policy on importsthat will save their businesses. Thegovernment has promised to compensate shop owners whose chickens were confiscatedand killed. 

The government says regulations on poultry importswill have to balance health safety with food needs. The ban on live poultryfrom mainland China is to last for 21 days. But Lo is worried.

"I'm worried about the complacency of the government.If the government is complacent on H5N1, the government can be complacent inother infectious diseases .... All these can have a major impact in thecommunity," he said.

The H5N1 virus has killed more than 240 peopleworldwide, since 2003. Most caught thedisease from sick birds. But experts fear the virus will mutate into a formthat is easily passed to humans. Incrowded Hong Kong, that would be a disaster.