# 2085
It's been a quiet morning, with little of note to blog on.
North Korea continues to deny rumors of a bird flu outbreak, but this appears to contain nothing new since last week's denial.
SEOUL (AP) — North Korea strongly denied Thursday that bird flu had recently broken out in the country, contradicting a report from an outside aid group.
The Seoul-based Good Friends organization said last week that the disease had been discovered in the communist nation's northeast on June 3, when several birds were found dead near a military base.
The group also said dozens of magpies were found dead inside a camp for political prisoners in an adjacent province, and a child of one prison official subsequently suffered a high fever and died, although the cause of the deaths was unclear.
The North's official Korean Central News Agency said the country's quarantine authorities found in an investigation that no bird or human had died in the region and that health conditions there were "very safe."
"There is no reason for us to conceal bird flu," KCNA said.
Hong Kong officials, along with those from neighboring Shenzhen, are holding a bird flu drill in the wake of the recent outbreak of H5N1 in Guangdong Province and Hong Kong.
Hong Kong, Shenzhen hold avian flu exercise after outbreak in nearby farm
www.chinaview.cn
2008-06-19 21:50:24
HONG KONG, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Health quarantine authorities from Hong Kong and its neighboring boomtown Shenzhen held a joint exercise Thursday to test their emergency response capabilities in the event of suspected human cases of avian flu at Shenzhen Bay Port.
A total of 80 people from the two cities' relevant government departments joined in the exercise, including those from the Immigration, Customs and Excise, Police and Fire Services Departments, and Radio Television Hong Kong.
Director of Health Dr. PY Lam said the flow of travelers between Hong Kong and Shenzhen has been increasing and the exercise helps to strengthen the two cities' communication and collaboration in public health crises.
The exercise centered on scenarios in which passengers entering the port from Hong Kong or Shenzhen were found to have avian flu symptoms, including fever.
Otherwise, all seems quiet except for some stories coming out of Guangdong Province, translated by newshounds on the flu forums, that seem to indicate the outbreak of bird flu may not be `completely contained'.
These translations are not always easy to decipher, and nuances are often lost, so it is difficult to draw any conclusions.
For now, the situation there simply bears watching.
