All live poultry in Hong Kong's street markets and shops is to be slaughtered after officials detected the dangerous H5N1 bird flu virus, Sky News reports.

Tests showed infected birds in four markets.

Agriculture, fisheries and conservation director Cheung Siu-hing did not say how many birds would be killed.

But she said the virus has not been detected in samples from local chicken farms and distribution centres.

Health workers killed 2,700 poultry in a market on Saturday after routine testing showed five chickens were infected with the virus.

The government also temporarily banned supplies of all live poultry from mainland China and local farms.

Hong Kong was the scene of the world's first reported major bird flu outbreak among humans in 1997, when six people died.

The H5N1 strain has killed more than 200 people and ravaged poultry flocks worldwide since 2003, according to the World Health Organisation.

Scientists fear the virus will eventually mutate into a form that is much more easily transmissible between humans, triggering a global pandemic.

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