Bird flu kills 4,400 chickens in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur; surveillance intensifi

At least 4400 chickens have died following a bird flu avian influenza outbreak at a staterun poultry farm in Chhattisgarhs Bilaspur district prompting authorities to intensify surveillance within a 10kilometre radius officials saidVeterinary Departments joint director Dr GS Tanwar on Tuesday said around 4400 chickens died due to the viral infection at the government poultry farm in the Koni area between March 19 and 24 A total of 5037 chickens were housed at the facility he saidSamples from the dead birds were sent on Monday to laboratories in Bhopal and Pune The Bhopal lab has confirmed the presence of avian influenza in dead chickens Tanwar informedFollowing the confirmation District Collector Sanjay Agrawal issued immediate directives for containment and prevention under the Revised Action Plan for Prevention and Containment of Avian Influenza 2021 an official statement saidA onekilometre radius of the farm has been declared as infected zone and a 10 km radius as surveillance zone it said According to the protocol poultry birds feed and eggs will be destroyed within the infected zone and their movement will be completely banned For this compensation will be provided by the Animal Husbandry Department to the poultry bird ownersAfter completing the culling process the farm will be sealed Rapid Response Teams have been formed to carry out culling of infected birds safe disposal surveillance and sanitisation measures in the affected area said the statementWarning signboards will be installed and strict monitoring will be enforced on the movement and sale of poultry in these areas Culling and disposal operations will be conducted as per government guidelines with coordination between revenue police urban administration and panchayat departments it saidHealth monitoring of poultry farm workers is also being undertaken Any individual showing symptoms will be tested and antiviral medication will be provided if required it said Officials have also directed continuous monitoring of poultry sale centres across the districtThe district magistrate has appealed to people not to pay attention to rumours and to cooperate with authorities while maintaining vigilance No cases of infection in humans have been reported so far officials added Bird flu or avian flu is a type of viral infection that spreads in birds and some mammalsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever