Miyazaki to continue monitoring bird flu

Following the detection of bird flu in southwestern Japan, prefectural authorities in Miyazaki are to complete measures on Tuesday intended to prevent the spread of the virus.

The local government on Monday began incinerating all 12,000 chickens at a farm. The H5 strain of bird flu was detected there after thousands of birds at the farm died last week.

On Tuesday, about 100 workers will disinfect the inside of the farm facilities. They will continue the procedure once a week to prevent another outbreak.

The prefectural government will test the blood of chickens at farms within a radius of 10 kilometers and continue monitoring to ensure that the disease is not spreading.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Center for Food Safety announced a ban on all imports of poultry and related products from Japan.

Gov't: No signs of bird flu at other farms

Japan's agriculture ministry says it has found no signs of the avian flu virus outside Miyazaki Prefecture, southwestern Japan, where an outbreak of bird flu has been confirmed.

The ministry conducted emergency nationwide inspections following the outbreak at a poultry farm in Kyotake Town last week. On Tuesday, officials confirmed that the bird flu virus detected there was the highly toxic H5-N1 strain.

The officials surveyed about 8,200 poultry farms with more than 1,000 chickens each, to check for any signs of bird flu. They said no symptoms of bird flu infection were found.

Japan's agriculture ministry has instructed prefectural governments across the country to take immediate action to detect any possible cases of bird flu.