The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) received Follow-up Report No. 18 on 22 June 2012.

According to the report, a scaly-breasted munia (Lonchura punctulata) was collected on 18 June 2012 at Yuen Long. The scaly-breasted munia is a common local resident in Hong Kong.

An intensive surveillance system is in place for all poultry farms, poultry markets and pet bird shops in Hong Kong. The H5N1 infected wild birds and goose carcass from unknown source were detected in ongoing surveillance programme on wild birds. The dates of the outbreaks are the same as the dates the birds were collected (i.e. 17 December 2011, 30 December 2011, 1 January 2012, 12 January 2012, 20 January 2012 , 30 January 2012 , 6 February 2012, 7 February 2012, 8 February 2012, 24 February 2012, 25 February 2012, 27 February 2012, 2 March 2012, 3 March 2012, 12 March 2012, 15 March 2012, 4 April 2012, 27 April 2012 and 18 June 2012 respectively).

A total of 19,451 poultry, including 15,569 chickens, 810 pigeons, 1,950 pheasants and 1,122 silky fowls were culled in the Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market on 21 December 2011. The Wholesale Poultry Market was closed. Live poultry and movement of poultry in local farms is banned for 21 days.

Surveillance and monitoring of local chicken farms has been stepped up. No H5 virus was detected in samples taken from the 30 chicken farms in Hong Kong. The Wholesale Poultry Market was reopened on 12 January 2012.

The source of the outbreak has not yet been determined.

Further Reading You can visit the Avian Flu page by clicking here.