Civil Aviation Ministry asked to allow uninterrupted transportation of samples for bird flu testing

Amid bird flu outbreak in 10 states, the Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying on Thursday said it has asked its civil aviation counterpart to allow uninterrupted transportation of samples for expeditious testing in designated laboratories.

This comes in the wake of some states banning the supply of poultry and poultry products without testing the samples, creating panic and hurting the industry badly.

Bird flu or avian influenza outbreak has been confirmed in Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat so far.

"The Department requested Ministry of Civil Aviation to allow uninterrupted transportation of samples for expeditious testing of avian influenza in designated laboratories," the ministry said in a statement.

The central teams formed for monitoring the situation in the affected areas of the country are visiting the affected sites and conducting epistemological studies, it said.

Sharing the latest update of bird flu, the ministry said samples from four poultry farms have been confirmed to be positive for avian influenza (H5N8) in Haryana.

These farms are Maharaja poultry farm in Khatauli, Tara poultry farm, Batour and Singla poultry farm in Mauli village of Panchkula district, it added.

Further, the ministry said that additional cases of bird flu among crows have been confirmed in Dangs district of Gujarat.

After successfully finishing the culling operations, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have completed sanitisation activities.

In the light of the findings that many states were banning the supply of poultry and poultry products from other states, the ministry said it has asked states to review such policy as this would add to the negative impact on the poultry industry.

"Further, there is no scientific report available that infection of avian influenza viruses spread through processed products. Consumption of well-cooked chicken and eggs does not pose any risk to humans," it asserted.

The statement said Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Giriraj Singh discussed in a virtual meeting with Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Mayors of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) about the ban on the supply of poultry and poultry products.

Singh emphasised on removing the ban and the Delhi Government revoked the restrictions with immediate effect, it added.

Following the advisories of the central government, states are creating awareness through newspaper advertisements, social media platforms etc.

Also, constant efforts are being made to generate awareness about bird flu and how to deal with the situation among the general public through various media platforms, including social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook handles, it added.