The avian influenza (H5N8) outbreak in Alappuzha and Kottayam districts is under control, K.M. Dileep, Director of Animal Husbandry, has said.
Mr. Dileep said no fresh case of bird flu had been reported from anywhere in the State. “Bird culling and sanitisation of the infected areas have been completed. If birds are found dead, samples will be sent for testing,” he told The Hindu. Mr. Dileep said that more than 70,000 birds, mostly ducks, had died/been culled in the two districts due to the outbreak.
P.K. Santhosh Kumar, District Animal Husbandry Officer, said the department would continue to carry out a surveillance activity over a radius up to 10 kilometres from the hotspots.
The bird flu was detected from five places in Kuttanad at Nedumudi, Thakazhi, Pallippad and Karuvatta in Alappuzha district and Neendoor in Kottayam district. Earlier, authorities collected samples from eight places following the mass death of ducks in December and sent it to the National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal, for analysis. Five samples tested positive for bird flu. Following this, authorities decided to cull birds, including domestic birds within a 1-km radius of the infected areas.
A two-member team from the Centre will visit Alappuzha on Saturday. Minhaj Alam, joint secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries and S.K. Singh, Director, National Centre for Disease Control will hold discussions with the respective district administration authorities regarding bird flu and COVID-19 outbreaks.
