H7N9 patients get compensation from restaurant

A restaurant chain featuring chicken dishes in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality promised to pay the medical expenses of any customer who gets infected with H7N9 avian influenza from eating chicken there.

Seeing its business affected by the bird flu, Qiansi Stewed Chicken, with 11 restaurants in downtown Chongqing, announced that the business will reimburse any customer who contracts H7N9 bird flu within 30 days after eating at one of its restaurants, the Chongqing Morning Post reported on Wednesday. The restaurant chain also promised to pay 600,000 yuan ($97,200) to the family of any customer who dies from H7N9 bird flu after eating at the restaurant.

Any customer who wants to be eligible for compensation must fill out a form with his or her name, phone number and the dining time at the restaurant. However, only a fourth of the customers filled out the form, the newspaper report said.

At least 77 H7N9 avian flu cases, including 16 deaths, have been reported as of April 16.

The business of many chicken-themed restaurants has dropped 70 to 80 percent recently, and many restaurant owners have changed their menus as a result, according to the report.