Staff from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department clean and disinfect the Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market yesterday. The government ordered a thorough cleansing of the market after bird flu virus was found in faecal samples taken from a poultry stall in Sham Shui Po last Saturday. Edmond

The source of the avian flu virus found in a local market last week was still unknown yesterday despite ongoing investigations by a cross-departmental team set up by the government.

Last Saturday, the government announced that H5N1 bird flu virus was found in five faecal samples taken from three poultry stalls at Po On Road Market in Shum Shui Po.

Following the announcement, the government slaughtered 2,700 chickens sold at the market.

Live chicken supply from local and mainland poultry farms has been suspended for 21 days.

Assistant Director for Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Thomas Sit Hon-chung said three local poultry farms and six on the mainland have been identified to be the suppliers of the stalls.

But he said that tests on samples collected from the three local farms returned negative results for H5N1 virus.

And mainland authorities said there is no abnormality at the six poultry farms concerned.

"Our investigation is ongoing," Sit said.

Over the past two days, officials have taken more than 70 chicken samples from local farms, wholesale and retail markets, he said.

"While some samples have been tested negative, we are still waiting for the test results of other samples," he said.

"In the next three days, we will continue to check the health status of chickens and gather their dropping samples from 50 chicken farms in Hong Kong," he said.

Veterinaries will be sent to inspect registered poultry farms on the mainland, he said.

As to the existing 4,000 chickens stocked at the city's wholesale market, he said they will be retested.

"Only those that are tested negative to the deadly virus will be sold," he stressed.

Assistant Commissioner of Customs and Excise Tam Yiu-keung said they have set up an investigation team with other government departments to investigate whether chickens are being smuggled from the mainland.

"We will step up monitoring at border check points," he said.

As for compensation to chicken farmers, Assistant Director for Food and Environmental Hygiene Chu Lan-ying said the government is considering compensating farmers according to a compensation plan devised in 2001, when the last bird flu outbreak occurred.

It was reported that chicken farmers asked the government for about HK$30 million in compensation.

Each wholesaler will get HK$48,000, and each retail stall will get HK$30,000.

Meanwhile, Chu stressed that ventilation at Po On Road Market is good.

Regular cleansing at wet markets had been moved up by two days to yesterday.

A stall owner said businesses have been severely affected since last Saturday.

"The market has turned into a ghost town," she said.

Many members of the public said they would refrain from eating chicken for the time being.

A housewife surnamed Long said she would not eat chicken for the coming weeks.

Another woman surnamed Jim said she used to buy chickens every week. But she has not bought any over the last few days.

A man surnamed Tong, however, said he will keep eating chicken. He said he is not scared of bird flu as he maintains good personal hygiene.

(HK Edition 06/10/2008 page1)