Over 1,200 birds found dead across India; UP becomes 7th State to report bird flu

 

 

 

 

OVER 1,200 birds were found dead across the country on Saturday, including 900 in a poultry farm in Maharashtra, with the Centre saying that the outbreak of avian influenza has been reported in Uttar Pradesh, taking the total number of affected States to seven. The Centre said confirmation of bird flu in Delhi, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, is awaited as the samples have been sent for testing, it said.

 

Besides Uttar Pradesh, the other six States where bird flu is confirmed are Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced a ban on import of live birds in the national capital and closure of Ghazipur poultry market, the biggest in the city, for the next 10 days in view of bird flu scare. At least 24 crows have been found dead at a district park in south Delhi’s Jasola in the past three days and 10 ducks have died at the famous Sanjay Lake, officials said. As many as 900 hens have died at a poultry farm in Murumba village in Parbhani district of Maharashtra, a senior official said. Their samples have been sent for investigation to identify the exact cause of the death, Parbhani district collector Deepak Mulgikar told PTI. He said the poultry farm where the death of birds was reported is run by a Self Help Group (SHG).

 

Prima facie, the death of hens could be related to nutrition, the collector said, adding that the test results are awaited. Over 350 birds were reported dead in Rajasthan, taking the death count to 2,512, an official said. Of the 356 birds reported dead on Saturday, 257 were crows, 29 pigeons, 16 peacocks and 54 others. Even as Gujarat recorded its first confirmed cases of bird flu, four crows were found dead at a village in Mangrol taluka in the state’s Junagadh district. Six crows were found dead in Dakshina Kannada, bordering Kerala and samples have been sent for testing to ascertain the cause of death. Five crows were found dead in a drain in the Sitabpur area in Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal district. Samples of the dead birds have been sent to a laboratory in Bhopal for testing, Veterinary Officer BM Gupta said. A drive to cull over 1.60 lakh poultry birds at five poultry farms commenced in Haryana’s Panchkula district on Saturday, officials said.