Bird flu halts poultry exports

GUANGZHOU: This southern city partially suspended exports of live poultry and products such as eggs to neighboring Hong Kong and Macao following the recent outbreak of bird flu, local authorities said yesterday.

The Ministry of Agriculture and the National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory confirmed on Monday that a subtype H5N1 bird-flu strain had killed 9,830 ducks raised in Sixian Village of Panyu district in Guangzhou earlier this month.

The suspension, which is to last three weeks starting from last Monday, applies to registered poultry farms and plants processing poultry products located within a 24 km radius of the site of the bird-flu outbreak, a spokesman for the Guangdong entry-exit inspection and quarantine bureau said.