After Maharashtra, bird flu confirmed in Delhi, 9th state to be affected

While the coronavirus crisis continues to trouble the country, another major threat has emerged as several bird flu or avian influenza cases have been confirmed. On Monday, the Delhi Animal Husbandry Department confirmed that all the samples sent to a laboratory in Bhopal have tested positive for bird flu.

"Samples sent to Bhopal lab from Delhi test positive for bird flu," the Department`s Director Rakesh Singh told news agency IANS.

The samples were sent to Bhopal's National Institute of High Security Animal Disease last week.

The disease has already killed 900 chickens in Muramba village of Parbhani district of Maharashtra. State Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has called an emergency meeting on Monday at 5 pm to discuss the state of bird flu in Maharashtra.

Bird Flu, which started from Kerala, has been confirmed in 9 states so far. Apart from Kerala, bird flu has reached Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. A large number of birds other than crows have died in these states.

After this, the administration has decided to eliminate chickens and other birds present in all poultry farms that fall within 1-kilometre radius from the village. The purchase of all birds falling within 10 km has been banned. The administration has declared this village as infected zone and medical checkup is being conducted for all the people of the village.

The central government has also set up a control room to monitor the risk of bird flu and necessary guidelines have been issued to all states by the Union Animal Husbandry Ministry. Along with this, some teams of the Union Health Ministry have been sent to the affected areas of many states, to monitor the situation.

In a communication to the Chief Secretaries and Administrators of the States and UTs, Secretary of Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying requested Animal Husbandry departments to ensure effective communication and coordination with Health authorities for close vigilance of the disease status and avoid any chances of jumping of the disease into humans.

States were also requested to be prepared for any eventuality of avian influenza and were requested to ensure sufficient stock of PPE kits and accessories required for culling operations.