Hong Kong
(AsiaNews ) - The Secretariat of Health of Hong Kong has decided to disinfect
the chicken market in Cheung Sha Wan, closing it for 21 days. In
addition, he has decreed the culling of 20 thousand chickens from mainland China,
after they were discovered to be infected with H7N9 strain of avian influenza.
In
2013, bird flu also affected humans, with 200 infected and 50 deaths in China ,
Hong Kong and Taiwan.
In
three cities in Zhejiang , where there were 49 cases and 12 deaths , the sale
of live chickens has been prohibited. Even
in nearby Shanghai , the sale of live chickens was stopped for three months, as
of January 31 , the first day of the Chinese New Year. During
the celebrations for the New Year, the Chinese buy live chickens to kill and cook
at home. This
habit - along with the long journeys of migrant workers from the cities to the
countryside - promotes the spread of the virus.
According
to the World Health Organization, there is still no evidence that the virus is
able to pass from human to human . So
far, all the people who died from H7N9 had had direct contact with live and
infected poultry. In
Zhejiang , the government has also banned the sale of pigeons.