Hong Kong - By late Wednesday, authorities had largely completed the cull of about 1.4 million chickens and other fowl, ordered after four people died in Hong Kong from the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, previously unknown in humans.
"Cleansing and disinfection are going on to eliminate the virus from all local farms, wholesale markets and retail outlets," a government spokesman said on Thursday.
Health authorities have diagnosed nine other cases of bird flu, sparking widespread fears of an epidemic.
More than 1,000 government staff have worked around the clock since Monday to kill almost all chickens, ducks, geese and other poultry in Hong Kong.
According to the government spokesman, the Agricultural and Fisheries Department (AFD) will continue to destroy all newly located chickens.
But 300 to 400 chickens of pure indigenous breed which had been proved free of infection were spared from the slaughter, said Kwok Mism that the move came too late.
But Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa has defended the operation.
"We have handled this with great concern and from the highest levels," Tung said on Wednesday. "On steps already take a vaccine.
Hong Kong said on Tuesday that a week-long ban on live chicken imports from mainland China, which came into effect on Christmas Eve, would be extended to three to four weeks.
Authorities in the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday indefinitely banned the import of live and frozen poultry from Hong Kong, China and Australia. South Africa has also halted chicken imports from Hong Kong.
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