A janitor sprays disinfectant over empty chicken cages at a market in New Taipei City, Taiwan, on Monday, April 29. Asian countries have stepped up vigilance against the spread of H7N9 bird flu after a case of the deadly strain showed up in Taiwan, the first outside mainland China.
Hong Kong (CNN) -- Officials wielding infrared thermometers are becoming more difficult to avoid at entry points from mainland China as Hong Kong strengthens its defenses against the H7N9 strain of bird flu.
Extra measures are being taken this week during an expected surge in visitors across the border for the three-day Labor Day break from Monday to Wednesday.
Up to 600 officials will be stationed at border crossings during the holiday, including more than 100 volunteers in addition to government staff, according to Hong Kong's food and health secretary, Ko Wing-man.
"There will also be promotion and education work done at the borders reminding visitors to stay home or visit a doctor if they are not feeling well," he added, in response to reporters' questions on Sunday.
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Along with extra screening at entry points, tour operators are also being asked to keep an eye on travelers who may be showing symptoms of what the World Health Organization calls "one of the most lethal influenza viruses" it has ever seen.
As of Sunday, the number of bird flu infections had risen to 124, based on provincial Ministry of Health websites. The figure includes one case in Taiwan, which remains the only recorded infection beyond mainland China.
Within the country, the infection has spread to eight provinces and the city of Shanghai, as well as the capital Beijing. Twenty-three people have so far died from the infection.
According to the last figures released from the national Ministry of Health on April 24, 14 people have recovered after treatment. On that day, the ministry switched to weekly updates and the figure hasn't been updated since.
Health authorities are still investigating the possible sources of infection and how the virus is spread. As recently as Thursday, the WHO repeated that so far there had been no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission.
Taiwanese health officials say the territory's first case was imported by a local businessman who regularly traveled between back and forth between China's Jiangsu province and Taiwan.
To date, 27 cases have been reported in Jiangsu, resulting in four deaths. That's only the second highest number of provincial cases behind Zhejiang, which has reported 46 cases of infection and six deaths.
Wearing a customary white lab coat during a tour of the China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday, Premier Li Keqiang urged officials to be vigilant against bird flu.
"We cannot afford to take it easy or relax, as we are facing a new virus. We should be prepared for any possible development," he said in quotes carried by state-run news agency Xinhua.
On Saturday, a mass cull was ordered at a major wholesale poultry market in the city of Dongguan after random testing detected the presence of an H7 strain of bird flu. No birds were showing symptoms, according to a statement from the city's Bureau of Agriculture. Nor had been there been any cases of human infection, it added. Dongguan is a city in the central province on Guangdong.
Hong Kong has said it is prepared to halt the import of live poultry, meat and eggs if the H7N9 virus is found at a mainland poultry farm with export ties to Hong Kong, or if that farm is within 13 kilometers of another that supplies the city.
CNN's Vivian Kam in Hong Kong and Feng Ke in Beijing contributed to this report.
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A New Taipei City Department of Environmental Protection truck sprays a virus disinfectant in a park on April 29.
Doctors hold a consultation on the treatment for a patient surnamed Luo, the province's first human case of H7N9 avian influenza, at the No. 2 Hospital in Longyan City, in southeast China's Fujian Province, on April 27. Luo, 65, a local resident, showed symptoms of repeated coughing, low fever and a tight chest on April 18. Luo tested positive for the H7N9 virus on Friday by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Thirty-seven people who have been in close contact with Luo have not shown any abnormal symptoms so far.
A vendor stands by her chicken coop in Fuqing, southeast China's Fujian Province on April 26. At least 20 people have died from the virus which, while common in birds, hadn't been detected in humans before the first cases were reported in March.
A woman wearing a medical mask walks past vending machines that sell masks outside National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei on April 26. A 53-year-old Taiwanese businessman has contracted the H7N9 strain of bird flu while traveling in China, Taiwan's Health Department said on April 24. It's the first reported case outside of mainland China. The man was hospitalized after becoming ill three days after returning from Suzhou on April 9.
Disease control workers examine a chicken in a poultry farm in Fuqing on April 26.
Three people wearing masks walk outside the National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei on Thursday, April 25. China has reported 83 cases of H7N9 avian influenza.
An H7N9 bird flu patient walks in the corridor of a hospital after his recovery and approval for discharge in Bozhou, in central China's Anhui Province, on Friday, April 19.
Chickens line the walls at a poultry farm on Thursday, April 18, in Yuncheng, China.
A 7-year-old girl, who was the first confirmed bird flu case in Beijing, is discharged from Beijing Ditan Hospital on Wednesday, April 17.
Health workers collect blood samples from chickens at a poultry farm in Taizhou, China, on April 17.
Chickens roost at a poultry farm in Taizhou, China, on Wednesday, April 17.
Pedestrians in Shanghai wear face masks to protect themselves from the H7N9 bird flu virus on Tuesday, April 16.
A man throws ducklings into a stove at a duck farm in Zhangzhou in China's Fujian province on Sunday, April 14. The farm has had to kill more than 400,000 newborn ducks every week after the H7N9 bird flu affected the domestic poultry market.
A woman uses a lamp to illuminate a batch of eggs in the hatchery of a duck farm in Zhangzhou on April 14.
Cheng Jun, vice president of Beijing's Ditan hospital, shows a video of the first bird flu victim in intensive care during a press conference on Saturday, April 13.
Officials in Hong Kong test poultry at the border with mainland China on April 11 as authorities step up measures against the spread of the deadly H7N9 bird flu.
Empty cages are seen at a closed bird market on April 10 in Shanghai.
A technician conducts tests for the H7N9 bird flu virus at the Kunming Center for Disease Control on April 10 in Kunming, China.
Medical workers take part in a drill that simulates human infection of the H7N9 bird flu virus on April 9 in Hefei, China.
People wear masks to protect themselves from the H7N9 virus, or bird flu, while riding the underground in Shanghai on Tuesday, April 9.
Employees work on the production line of Shufeng Jiedu Capsule, an herbal medicine for treating avian influenza patients, at a workshop of Anhui Jiren Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd on Monday, April 8 in Bozhou, China.
A public park staff carries a cage to catch pigeons at a public area in People's Square, downtown Shanghai on Saturday, April 6. Shanghai municipal government has ordered workers to remove pigeons from public area to prevent the spread of H7N9 bird flu to humans, local media reported.
A boy looks at pigeons at a public park in People's Square in Shanghaion on April 6. Health authorities in China said on Saturday that the country's 16 confirmed H7N9 bird flu cases were isolated and showed no sign that it is transmitted from human to human, Xinhua News Agency reported.
A public park worker catches a dove in People's Square in downtown Shanghai on April 6.
A public park worker places a dove in a cage in Shanghai on April 6.
A masked security guard stands outside Taipei Hoping Hospital on April 6, where new isolation units have been set up to treat potential new avian influenza cases.
Taiwan's Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta checks the negative pressure system in a isolation room as he inspects preparations for the virus in Taipei City Hospital Heping Branch, on April 6.
A woman wears a face mask inside a subway station in Shanghai, China, on Friday, April 5. The Chinese minister of agriculture said Thursday it had discovered the H7N9 virus in samples taken from pigeons at Huhai agricultural market, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Health workers gather dead chickens at the Huhai poultry wholesale market, where the H7N9 bird flu virus was detected in pigeon samples, in Shanghai on April 5.
Cabin attendants are seen on a thermographic imaging device after their arrival from Shanghai at the quarantine station at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo on April 5.
Men wear face masks at a shopping mall in downtown Shanghai on April 5.
Chinese health workers collect bags of dead chickens at the Huhai wholesale market on April 5.
A policeman goes after a chicken that broke loose as Chinese health workers started culling chickens at Huhai wholesale market on April 5.
A woman cleans a birdcage at a store in Taipei, Taiwan, on Thursday, April 4.
Staff members from Taiwan's Center for Disease Control stand at the entrance of Sungshan Airport in Taipei.
A passenger has her temperature checked by a CDC staff member at the entrance of Sungshan Airport in Taipei.
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