Macao resumes import of live poultry

MACAO - After suspending by 21 days, the import of live poultry was resumed on Thursday and they will be back on sale in markets on Friday in Macao.

The three-week ban on importing live poultry began on March 13 after the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) announced that the H7-type avian flu virus was found in sample tests of 1,000 live chickens that were imported from a farm in Zhuhai's Doumen district.

Vong Iao Lek, chairman of the IACM said that, poultry will not be imported from this farm for the time being. He said most of poultry will be imported from other two registered poultry farms in Zhuhai, with just a few coming from farms in Zhongshan and a number of other cities in Guangdong.

Some 7600 chickens and 1800 pigeons were imported to the Nam Yue Wholesale Market on Thursday, of which 150 samples were tested. The number was 60 everyday before the import of chickens was banned.

According to the IACM, routine cleaning and disinfection will be conducted in all retail poultry stalls in the wet markets every day, while a thorough disinfection will be conducted every two weeks.

In order to more effectively reduce the risk of the avian flu spreading, thorough disinfections will be conducted in wet and wholesale markets on the same day every fortnight.