SAFETY FIRST: Technicians wearing protection suits begin to cull poultry at a poultry wholesale market, where H7N9 bird flu virus was detected in pigeon samples, in Shanghai. — Reuters photo
SHANGHAI: Shanghai ordered all live poultry markets in the city closed yesterday after culling more than 20,000 birds to curb the spread of the H7N9 flu virus, which has killed six people in China.
The latest fatality was a 64-year-old farmer who died in Huzhou, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, local officials said according to the state Xinhua news agency.
He is thought to be among 14 previously confirmed human cases of H7N9, and is the second person from Zhejiang to die from the new bird flu strain, with the other four fatalities in Shanghai, China’s commercial hub.
Shanghai has a population of 23 million people and city government spokesman Xu Wei said its live poultry markets were being shuttered temporarily for “public safety” purposes, and all trade in live poultry banned.
The moves came after the virus was found in pigeon samples from the Huhuai market in Shanghai, where Xinhua said a total of 20,536 chickens, ducks, geese and pigeons had been slaughtered.
Images posted on the Sina Weibo microblog by a local television reporter showed men in protective clothing and facemasks entering the market in the city’s western suburbs during the night, and dozens of empty birdcages.
Yesterday, the entrance to the poultry section was concealed with wooden boards and sealed off with plastic tape, with a police car parked nearby and white disinfectant powder sprinkled in the street. Two staff members at the market told AFP the slaughter was completed overnight, but one of them added: “Of course, I’m worried.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has played down fears over the H7N9 strain, saying there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission, but that it was crucial to find out how the virus infects humans.
Like the H5N1 variant which typically spreads from birds to humans through direct contact, experts fear such viruses could mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans, with the potential to trigger a pandemic.
Shanghai city health official Wu Fan also said yesterday there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission.
One person who had been in close contact with a victim had shown flu-like symptoms but tested negative for H7N9, she said.
“There is no possibility of spreading the infection overseas,” Wu told a press conference.
The first two deaths from the virus, which had not been seen before in humans, occurred in February but were not reported by authorities until late March.
Officials said the delay in announcing the results was because it took time to determine the cause of the illness.
The state-run China Daily yesterday quoted the ministry of health in Beijing as pledging “open and transparent exchanges with the WHO and other countries and regions”. —AFP