NEW DELHI, Jan 6: The union health ministry has deployed special multi-disciplinary teams to bird flu affected Alappuzha and Kottayam districts in Kerala and Panchkula district, Haryana, after five states reported bird flu causing a fresh alarm amidst the Corona pandemic.
An official spokesman of the health ministry said the deployment of the special teams was a precautionary measure even though no human case of the disease had been reported from anywhere in the country.
Bhopal-based the National Institute of High Security Animal Disease (NIHSAD), the lab accredited to confirm bird flu, has so far identified 12 epicentres of bird flu in the country including Rajasthan (Baran, Kota, Jhalawar), Madhya Pradesh (Mandsaur, Indore, Malwa), Himachal Pradesh (Kangra) and Kerala (Kottayam, Alappuzha). In addition, bird flu deaths have also been reported from Haryana and Uttarakhand. Himachal’s Kangra district magistrate banned sale or culling of poultry in the alert zone and closed all poultry or fish selling shops. In Rajasthan, Section 144 was imposed in a 1km radius of infected areas in Jhalawar and Baran districts. In Kerala, Kottayam and Alappuzha districts close to 38,000 ducks have been culled.
A high level team comprising Director, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and Joint Secretary and Covid-19 nodal officer, ministry of food processing industries, has been deployed to Kerala on Wednesday, to oversee the implementation of bird flu containment operations and guide state health departments in mounting appropriate public health interventions to control the situation. In addition, this high level team will also review the Covid-19 situation in the states.
The department of animal husbandry on January 4, 2021, had notified detection of Avian Influenza (H5N8) in samples of dead ducks from Alappuzha and Kottayam districts in Kerala. A similar report of bird flu has also been received from poultry samples from Panchkula district of Haryana, following which the health ministry called a meeting of experts to monitor the situation.
Similar reports of the disease have also been reported from Jhalawar, Rajasthan and Bhind, Madhya Pradesh involving crows and migratory birds. The Department of Animal Husbandry as per laid down protocol has issued alerts to further intensify surveillance to detect any case in poultry birds.
“So far, no human case of Avian Influenza has been reported. The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare continues to keep a strict watch over the evolving scenario,” the ministry statement said.
After five states reported bird deaths due to bird flu in the past one week, the Centre issued an advisory to all states asking them to test the droppings of migratory and poultry birds to prevent the spread. Close to 24,500 birds have died and thousands others are infected, according to official sources.
(Manas Dasgupta)