Hong Kong has suspended the import of poultry and poultry meat from southwest China's Guizhou Province, announced the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Tuesday.

The decision was made in view of a confirmed H5N1 avian influenza outbreak in the southwestern province of Guizhou, said a spokesman for the HKSAR Health, Welfare and Food Bureau.

The bureau "received notification from the Ministry of Agriculture tonight (Tuesday), of an H5N1 avian influenza outbreak among quails in Guiyang City, Guizhou," said the spokesman.

"We will closely monitor the development of the situation," he said.

Hong Kong has earlier suspended poultry and poultry meat imports from several other mainland provinces and one Canadian province affected by the epidemic.

Though no outbreak of bird flu was reported in Hong Kong, the local government has waged a campaign to raise public attention to prevent the disease from being spread in Hong Kong.

The public are called for maintaining good sanitary habits, and markets selling poultry have been disinfected.

(Xinhua News Agency January 11, 2006)