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HONG KONG: Hong Kong's government confirmed Thursday that the deadly H5N1 virus was found at a poultry farm, the first outbreak on a farm here in nearly six years.
"We have identified the virus as H5N1 this afternoon following a series of tests," a spokeswoman for the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department told AFP.
The government announced Tuesday that bird flu was found at a farm near the border with China, and ordered the slaughter of more than 90,000 chickens by end of this week. Initial tests revealed the H5 virus and the results of follow-up tests announced Thursday identified it as the H5N1 strain.
Hong Kong was the scene of the world's first reported major bird flu outbreak among humans in 1997, when six people died. The second outbreak in a poultry farm took place in 2003, since which the government has required farmers to vaccinate their birds against the flu.
- AFP/yt
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