The area within the 1-km radius of the epicentre has been declared as an affected zone and birds within the area will be culled, he said.”Additionally, a 10-km radius has been designated as a surveillance zone, where the sale and purchase of poultry has been prohibited. An awareness campaign will begin today,” Mani added.Dr Anil Kumar Sinha, in-charge of the government poultry farm, stated that the first deaths were reported on February 20.”Twelve birds died on February 23, and we sent the initial samples to Ranchi on February 25 and to Kolkata on February 27. Following instructions from the Kolkata-based laboratory, we sent the sample to a Bhopal-based lab on March 5,” he said.The ICAR-National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD) in Bhopal confirmed the presence of H5N1 on March 7.Sinha noted that of the 300 birds at the farm, around 250 died within 15 days.Earlier in February, a bird flu outbreak was reported at a poultry farm at Birsa Agriculture University (BAU) in Ranchi, where 5,488 birds were culled.
Source link
