Hong Kong Culls 20,000 Chickens Affected with H7N9 Virus

Hong Kong culled nearly 20,000 chickens Tuesday after H7N9 avian influenza was found in a sample taken from the poultry imported from mainland China.

Health officials destroyed the affected chicken with poisonous gas. Hong Kong's Secretary for Food and Health, Ko Win-man, said in a press statement Monday that there will be a ban on sale of chicken and  live poultry for the next three weeks for cleaning and disinfecting purposes . He also said, " Officials would inspect  all local farms and collect samples for testing to ensure that local farms are not affected by H7avian influenza."

The number of people affected with the virus is 102 with 22 deaths in China for January , according to  AFP. The worst-hit province of Zhejiang has closed down its markets.

The worst-hit province of Zhejiang of China has closed down its major markets . The AFP reports also state that Shanghai will also ban live poultry between  January 31 and April 30.

The sale of poultry was expected to go up as the Lunar New Year is just round the corner.

According to the World Health Organization reports, the virus emerged in humans during 2013 but no evidence is seen to prove human-to-human transmission of virus.

China was previously accused of covering up the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome(SARS) that killed nearly 800 people around the world ,but, its openness and response to the recent outbreak of H7N9 was praised by the WHO recently. "There's been an increase in the number of cases, not deaths. The deaths haven't increased that much,"  spokesperson for WHO, Gregory Hartl, told AFP