JOIN USThe Odisha government on Saturday issued a high alert in the state capital after confirmed cases of bird flu were detected in a Central government-run poultry firm in the city.
The return of the dreaded avian influenza to the state after a gap of almost a fortnight has already triggered panic among the city residents.
Earlier, the cases of bird flu had been detected at Kerang in coastal Khurda district and Betanati in tribal dominated Mayurbhanj district in north Odisha. The state authorities had gone for large-scale culling of poultry birds in both the areas last month.
“We have already declared 21 wards within the city as alert zones. The shops selling poultry products in these wards have been directed to close their shutters till further order. A ban has also been imposed on the movement of poultry and poultry products from these areas to outside”, a senior official of the Bhuabeswar Municipal Corporation(BMC) said adding that 10 rapid action teams have already been formed to implement the BMC order.
Sources in the state government’s fisheries and animal resources development department in the secretariat said, the authorities at the poultry farm of Central Poultry Development Organisation(CPDO) had been noticing unusual death of hens and chicken during the last few days. Subsequently, the blood samples of some of the dead birds had been sent to Bhopal- based High Security Animal Diseases Laboratory (HSADL) for tests. The Bhopal lab confirmed the bird flu virus in the blood samples on Friday evening.
BMC officials said, the culling of birds will begin shortly.