A 60-year-old woman believed to be infected with the H5N1 strain of "bird flu" died here yesterday as the government banned chicken imports from the rest of China in a desperate bid to check the spread of the deadly virus.
"The cause of death is pneumonia, it is not yet confirmed at this stage whether she suffered from Influenza A H5N1 infection," said a government spokesman.
If confirmed as H5N1, the woman's death will be the fourth from the virus previously found only in birds. The woman was admitted to hospital earlier yesterday and classified as a "suspected" case of the virus, the spokesman said.
The chicken import ban, came into force at midnight yesterday. It will allow the introduction of appropriate controls, said Mr Paul Saw, deputy director of the health department and head of the government taskforce fighting the disease.
Mr Saw said mainland authorities had suggested the ban after the "bird flu" scare hit world headlines. Japan and Taiwan have already warned their citizens to be wary of the virus while travelling to Hong Kong.
Mr Leslie Sims, senior veterinary officer of the Agriculture and Fisheries Department (AFD), said the temporary suspension was introduced as a precautionary measure and to allow the AFD to put in place a new blood test system for all imported birds.
"Each shipment of imported birds will be screened for evidence of Flu A infection using a rapid blood test," he said.
"Any shipments that test positive will not be allowed to be sold until further testing can be done to assess the birds," he added.
Experts said evidence suggests exposure to chicken or its faeces was a possible source of infection. It was not yet established if direct man-to-man transmission was possible, they said.
With the poultry industry thrown into crisis by the bird flu scare, Mr Saw also sought to regain public confidence in chickens by announcing it was safe to eat chicken provided they were well-cooked.
He also said the government will clean up all 2,200 poultry stalls in the territory's wet markets starting next week.
Some 60 chicken farms in Hong Kong would also be inspected for contamination which could result in the extermination of the farms' entire poultry stock.