Centre issues advisories to other States; over 69,000 birds culled in Kerala
After lakhs of birds died in several States and thousands were culled, the Centre on Wednesday identified 12 epicentres of avian influenza, or the bird flu, outbreak in Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and issued advisories to other States to contain spread of the infection in chickens, ducks, crows and migratory birds.
Over 69,000 birds, including ducks and chicken, were culled in Kerala while the Madhya Pradesh Government banned chicken supply from Kerala and other southern States for next 10 days. The bird flu outbreak has been reported barely a few months after India in September 30, 2020, declared the country free from the disease.
The Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying on Wednesday alerted States to keep a vigil on any unusual mortality among birds and to report immediately to take necessary measures as there is a possibility of bird flu spreading to humans and domesticated animals. The Ministry has also set up a control room (011-23382354) in Krishi Bhawan to keep watch on the situation and to take stock on daily basis of preventive and control measures undertaken by State authorities.
The avian influenza cases have been reported in many States like Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Gujarat, while Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Delhi, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are on high alert.
“After confirmation of positive samples from ICAR-NIHSAD, avian influenza (AI) has been reported from the following States (at 12 epicentres): Rajasthan (crow) — Baran, Kota, Jhalawar; Madhya Pradesh (crow) — Mandsaur, Indore, Malwa; Himachal Pradesh (migratory birds) — Kangra; Kerala (poultry duck) — Kottayam, Allapuzha (4 epicentres),” said the Ministry.
The Health Ministry has deployed multi-disciplinary teams to Avian Influenza affected Alappuzha and Kottayam districts in Kerala, and Panchkula District in Haryana.
The Health Ministry has also issued an action plan which says dead birds should be handled with utmost caution and scientific supervision. As per the action plan on Avian Influenza, the Ministry has suggested the affected States for strengthening the biosecurity of poultry farms, disinfection of affected areas, proper disposal of dead birds/carcasses, timely collection and submission of samples for confirmation and further surveillance, intensification of surveillance plan as well as the general guidelines for prevention of disease spread from affected birds to poultry and human.
“In India, the disease spreads mainly by migratory birds coming into India from September – October to February – March. The secondary spread by human handling (through fomites) cannot be ruled out,” it said.
To allay fears about transmission of the disease from poultry to humans, Union Minister for Animal Husbandary, Giriraj Singh, on social media advised people to properly cook eggs and meat before consuming them.”In some places there have been reports of migratory and wild birds dying from bird flu. Cook the meat and eggs completely before eating. There is nothing to worry. All possible help is being given and states have been alerted,” Singh tweeted in Hindi. His deputy Sanjiv Balyan said that five states have reported Bird flu but there has been no case of transmission of the Avian Influenza to humans in India.
Accordingly, an advisory was issued to the States of Rajasthan and MP on January 1 to avoid further spread of the infection. As per the information received from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, control measures have been taken as per the guidelines of the National Action Plan of Avian Influenza. “Another advisory has been issued on January 5 to HP advising it to take measures to avoid further spread of disease to poultry. As per the report received, Kerala has already initiated control and containment operations at epicentres and culling process is in operation,” it said.
According to Kerala Animal Husbandry Minister K Raju, over 69,000 birds including ducks and chicken were culled in the districts of Alappuzha and Kottayam to contain the H5N8 strain of bird flu. The Minister said 19 Rapid Response Teams have been engaged in culling birds in both the districts and the regions suspected to have infected the birds will be sanitised on Thursday. Trade of poultry meat and eggs has been banned in the affected districts.
Haryana has reported the death of around 4 lakh birds in the past 10 days in Panchkula district following which the authorities have issued an advisory on poultry products. Barwala-based poultry farms in the Hisar district of Haryana reported deaths of around 1.5 lakh birds in the past one week.
At the epicenter in Rajasthan, about 100 crows died on Wednesday. Other than this, peacocks, pigeons, and koyals have died. The number of birds which died in Rajasthan in the recent days reached over 700. The fatalities were reported in 16 of the 33 districts of Rajasthan.
Nearly 400 crows have died due to viral infection in Indore, Mandsaur, Agar-Malwa, Khargone, Neemuch, Dewas, Ujjain, Shajapur, all in Malwa region; Sehore in central region and Guna in Gwalior-Chambal region of Madhya Pradesh. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has claimed that Bird flu not found in any poultry farm in the affected area.
More than 2,300 migratory birds have died in Himachal Pradesh due to bird flu outbreak. Most of the birds to have died of H5N1 avian influenza are bar-headed geese in the Pong Dam reservoir area in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh.
The first outbreak of H5N1 in India was recorded 15 years ago in February 2006 at a poultry industry in the Maharashtra’s Nandurbar district. There was a major outbreak in West Bengal in 2008 and another one in Kerala in 2014.
Thursday, 07 January 2021 | Rajesh Kumar | New Delhi
