Hong Kong: Hong Kong

Hong Kong Dept: Enhanced poultry testing measures, including more frequent farm inspections and bigger sample sizes, were announced following an emergency meeting over the weekend with mainland Chinese, Macau and Hong Kong officials, according to CBC. The secretary for food and health, Ko Wing-man, toured the Cheung Sha Wan wholesale poultry market Monday morning and told reporters the enhanced and rapid testing would begin Thursday. Live imports will be held at the market and only allowed for sale after the test results come back negative, he said. Thirty samples from every 1,000 birds will be tested and the results will be returned within four hours. Staff from China's animal disease prevention agency handle chickens in Shangsi county. The new strain of bird flu has so far infected 21 people in China and none in Hong Kong. Reuters/China Daily Hong Kong is stepping up its surveillance of people and poultry in response to the growing number of cases of avian flu in neighbouring mainland China. Hong Kong, which recently marked the 10-year anniversary of the SARS pandemic that killed 299 people in the city, also intends to do faster testing for the H7N9 virus in live poultry imports at the border control point with China. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.