New strain of bird flu reaches Delhi, Maharashtra; 9 states affected
The H5N8 strain of bird flu has spread to Delhi and Maharashtra, pushing the total number of Indian states hit by the disease to nine.
The other states facing the outbreak are Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh.
Testing of eight samples sent to a Bhopal-based laboratory has confirmed bird flu in Delhi, reports our New Delhi correspondent quoting Rakesh Singh from the animal husbandry unit of the city's development department. The report of the test results arrived this morning, he said.
A drive to cull ducks at a lake where 10 ducks were found dead recently has already begun, Singh added.
Officials earlier said that around 50 crows died in a park in an eastern Delhi locality in a span of three to four days.
The Delhi Development Authority has shut down three parks and a lake across the city-state, where hundreds of birds gather, as a precautionary measure.
The poultry market in Ghazipur, east Delhi has also been shut down temporarily.
In Maharashtra, bird flu has been confirmed as the cause of death of around 900 hens in the last few days at a farm in Parbhani district, a senior official said. The district administration has decided to cull nearly 8,000 birds at a village where these hens died, Collector Deepak Muglikar said.
A prohibitory zone in a 10 km radius of the area where the birds died has been created and a medical team is stationed there, he added.
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