HONG KONG, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Under the threat of bird flu, the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) held here on Monday a drill on Prevention of Avian Influenza -- Management of Dead Birds.

    The drill simulates that bird flu breaks out in Hong Kong and the city's government has activated the Alert Response Level of its influenza prevention plan.

    When a train was about to depart from Sha Tin Station, the train driver received a report from a passenger on board that two "dead birds" were found respectively in the train compartment and on the platform.

    The driver reports to the control center and station staff are immediately deployed to handle the bird carcasses and assist passengers to change to another train to continue their journeys.

    Dressed in protective gear, two staff members arrived at the station platform and put the dead birds into a thick black plastic bag with a pair of tongs and remove them away. They dispose of all used equipment properly and disinfect the floor surfaces after they remove the two dead birds from the scene.

    Corporate Risk Manager of KCRC Vincent Ho said that the aim of the drill was to enhance their staff's proficiency in the procedure of handling dead and sick birds found in station areas, also the cooperation between departments involved.

    According to Ho, KCRC has found a total of 200 dead bodies of birds in different areas along the line of the railway from January 2006 to present. All front-line staff members have been trained up with the knowledge of handling dead and sick birds, Ho added.

    As told by Ho, in most cases, they ask the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) of the Hong Kong government for help in handling dead birds.

    While in this drill which simulated a situation that the government has activated the Serious Response Level and for the sake of the passengers' safety, KCRC dealt with the situation by themselves without delay after consulting the AFCD.

    As a prevention measure of influenza, the Hong Kong government has set up a three-level response systems which includes Alert Response Level, Serious Response Level and Emergency Response Level.

    These levels are based on different risk-graded epidemiological scenarios relevant to Hong Kong, and each of them prescribes a given set of public health actions required. They are designed to match with the World Health Organization's (WHO) guideline for influenza pandemic planning.

    Hong Kong has now activated Alert Response Level which depicts the scenarios of confirmation of highly pathogenic avian influenza(HPAI) outbreaks in poultry populations outside Hong Kong; confirmation of HPAI in Hong Kong in imported birds in quarantine, in wild birds, in recreational parks, in pet bird shops or in the natural environment; confirmation of human cases of avian influenza outside Hong Kong.

    Serious Response Level means there is confirmation of HPAI outbreaks in the environment of or among poultry population in retail markets, wholesale markets or farms in Hong Kong due to a strain with known human health impact; confirmation of human case of avian influenza in Hong Kong without evidence of efficient human-to-human transmission.

    For Emergency Response Level, it depicts a scenarios that there is evidence confirming efficient human-to-human transmission of novel influenza occurring overseas or in Hong Kong, and a influenza pandemic is declared by WHO.