The authorities in Hong Kong are facing mounting criticism about their handling of the mass slaughter of the territory's 1.25 million chickens. The move was designed to stop the spread of a new strain of influenza first found in birds, but the operation has been fraught with problems. The authorities announced another confirmed case of the new flu on Friday, bringing the total so far to 15, four of whom have already died. From Hong Kong, Jill McGivering reports.

The mass slaughter of poultry was supposed to take 24 hours, but is now in its fifth day. Reports have emerged of thousands of chickens still waiting to be gassed by government workers.

The disposal of birds which have been slaughtered is also causing problems. Plastic bags full of dead chickens are still piled up in some areas, waiting for collection.

Stray dogs and rats have torn open some of these bags to feed on the carcasses, raising concerns about the possible spread of infection. Hong Kong's chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, admitted there had been what he called inadequacies, but said the work would be completed soon.

But Doctor Huang Chen-ya, of Hong Hong's Democratic party said the government had failed to plan from the start of the crisis. "We certainly have warned them all along that they have to have contingency plans for such a possibility and it would appear that they never really got their contingency plan properly organised.

"So it would appear to me that really Mr Tung and the government as a whole really sort of never had taken this business very seriously and had not really given sufficient resources to the operation."