The Chinese mainland has resumed the export of day-old chicks to Hong Kong nearly two months after the special administrative region suspended such imports to prevent the spread of bird flu.

The first batch of 10,000 chicks arrived in Hong Kong Friday to meet the demand of local chicken farmers, an official with Guangdong Administration of Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine said Saturday.

The administration began on March 21 the inspection into registered chicken farms that export chickens to Hong Kong and all breeding poultry in the farms were confirmed free of bird flu virus early this month.

In a bid to prevent the epidemic, the government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) suspended chicken imports from the mainland on March 5, when a case of human infection of the bird flu virus was reported in the southern province of Guangdong.

The ban on live chicken imports was lifted three weeks later, but the ban on day-old chicken imports was maintained until Friday for quarantine requirements.

Except a few bodies of wild birds were found with the H5N1 bird flu virus, Hong Kong has no outbreak of avian influenza, nor record of human infection.

HK Bans Poultry Imports from Parts of UK
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Hong Kong authorities announced on Saturday to stop processing applications for poultry meat and product imports from Norfolk of Britain.

The ban took effect immediately, said a statement by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department of the government of HKSAR.

"The decision was taken following the confirmation of an outbreak of avian influenza H7N3 in a poultry farm in Norfolk," said a spokesman for the department.

"We will seek further information from the relevant authorities concerning the case," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2006)