Hong Kong on February 10 lifted its three-week ban on poultry imports from the mainland of China, and Chinese poultry producers are already taking advantage of the removal of the ban.
More than 2,000 live chickens and doves raised in the Chinese mainland were shipped to Hong Kong for sale at wet markets on February 11.
The newly lifted ban had been imposed after birds in Hong Kong were found to be infected with avian influenza in January.
The special administrative region culled around 15,000 chickens at a poultry market in January and authorities suspended imports from the Chinese mainland for three weeks. Thousands of chickens have been culled this year in south China's Guangdong province bordering Hong Kong.
A total of 44 cases of H7N9 human infection have been reported in Guangdong during 2015, with the most recent human case occurring on Feburary 10, according to a Bernama report.
Shanghai, Fujian, Jiangxi and Zhejiang in east China have also reported cases this winter.
Officials at the inspection and quarantine bureau for Shenzhen, a city in Guangdong closest to Hong Kong, have dispatched specialist workers for on-site quarantining due to anticipated demand for poultry during the upcoming Lunar New Year.
