Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department reported on October 2 that it had instructed the trade to suspend imports of poultry meat and products, including poultry eggs, from the Rural Municipality of Rockwood in Manitoba Province, Canada. The move was prompted by a World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) notification of an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in the area, and the suspension took immediate effect for public health protection.

A CFS spokesman said that, according to the Census and Statistics Department, no poultry meat or eggs were imported into Hong Kong from Canada in the first six months of this year. The spokesman added that the CFS had contacted the Canadian authority and would closely monitor information from WOAH and the relevant authorities on the outbreak, taking appropriate action in response to developments.