A series of new measures on quarantines and handling of live poultry will be introduced by the Macau SAR Government to prevent the spread of avian flu in preparation for resuming live poultry imports in the near future.

The new measures were announced this morning at a joint press conference held by the Provisional Municipal Council of Macau, the Provisional Council of the Islands and the Health Bureau.

New measures included stricter quarantine regulation on imported live poultry. Under the new regulation, live poultry are only allowed to enter the local retail market after they passed the H5 antibody test, which will be conducted immediately upon importation and be completed within three hours, said Sales Marques, the president of the Provisional Municipal Council, adding that more samples would be tested in each stock.

He also said that inspectors of the Macau authority would conduct routine visits to mainland farms that supply poultry to Macau.

Concerning the handling of live poultry, live waterbirds will not be allowed for retail sales, instead, they have to be slaughtered upon arrival to the stores or the wet markets. Transportation and handling of waterbirds will also be separated from other fowls.

In order to ensure the standard of hygiene, stores and wet markets stalls where live poultry are sold must be thoroughly cleaned twice a month, with all live poultry moved to a different place.

Regarding locally raised chickens, Joaquim Madeira Carvalho, the President of the Provisional Municipal Council of the Island said, more samples would be collected in weekly checks on local farms and veterinarians would also visit the farms more frequently.

A taskforce will be set up to follow up on the situation and to take immediate action when necessary.

The Government decided to halt the poultry imports to Macau and cull all live poultry in Macau in May after two imported live geese were tested infected with H5N1 virus. About 60,000 birds were culled in the action/; 5.5 million patacas were paid on subsidies to operators and workers in the sector.

Some 8,000 chickens are imported to Macau daily before the halt while daily imports of waterbirds are less than 1,000.