Guangdong yesterday reiterated the avian-flu surveillance measures that are in place to guard against a possible re-emergence of the epidemic.

The Thai Government confirmed on Wednesday that a new avian-flu outbreak has taken place at a chicken farm in Central Thailand where some 7,000 chickens died two weeks ago. The remaining 33,000 chickens on the farm have been culled.

Health authorities in Guangdong Province have stepped up measures at all farms licensed to supply live poultry to Hong Kong and Macao to minimize contact between poultry and wild birds.

The farms were also required to vaccinate live poultry twice, and the second vaccination must be within two months of importation dates.

The Hong Kong government announced on Tuesday night that the territory will temporarily suspend live bird and poultry imports from Anhui Province where chickens were killed by an outbreak of the H5-N1 virus in the province.

A spokesman of the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau said the importation of live poultry from other provinces will not be affected, and the government will closely monitor the situation in Anhui in the coming weeks.

The Ministry of Agriculture has sent a panel of experts to the affected area. It suspects the outbreak was caused by migratory birds.

The ministry revealed that it has urged authorities in Anhui and other mainland regions to enhance preventive measures to stamp out the epidemic.

Responding to the new outbreaks, a spokesman for the local poultry industry said existing bird flu measures in the territory are sufficient to safeguard Hong Kong against the disease.

The industry will stage a protest march on Saturday to press the government for a full resumption of mainland live-chicken imports.

(HK Edition 07/08/2004 page2)