Anti-bird flu contingency (意外事故) measures, including a proposal to separate poultry from humans and a series of traffic and logistics (后勤) measures will be discussed at the Legislative Council's Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene Panel meeting next month. Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Dr York Chow says the contingency plan would come into force if an outbreak occurred near Hong Kong. Speaking on a radio talk show this morning, Dr Chow said the separation of poultry from humans policy, which will be determined after a decision whether to set up a central slaughtering (屠宰) house or several regional ones, would be based on the demand for live chickens. He pointed out that at present there were 30,000 live chickens imported from the Mainland and 30,000 supplied locally. If this demand persisted, there would be no central slaughtering house or wholesale point that could handle such an amount and regional slaughtering houses could be the choice. He added that building of regional slaughtering houses took time, but stressed the need to study the views of the public and the sector before a final decision was made. Regarding avian flu vaccination (种痘) for humans, Dr Chow said it was still being developed. He added that it may not be reliable in the case of an outbreak as records show vaccination can only offer 5% protection against a virus. He said Hong Kong had more experience and expertise than neighbouring territories in the fight against viral outbreaks, and was willing to offer them help. He added there was no “boundary” for infectious diseases and close cooperation among different countries had to be maintained to fight against a possible outbreak. 小题1: It can be inferred from the first paragraph that ______.
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