Avian influenza spread to more districts and states on Monday even as migratory and other birds continued to drop dead in several towns and villages. With bird samples taken from Delhi and Uttarakhand confirming the H5N8 virus on Monday, avian influenza has spread to nine states and a Union territory. The other affected states are Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal, UP, Kerala and MP.
To contain the spread, UP and Himachal banned poultry from other states.
An alert was sounded in Uttarakhand after samples of two dead crows sent for testing returned positive from ICAR-NIHSAD (National Institute of High Security Animal Disease) in Bhopal. On Monday, Dehradun divisional forest office officials spotted 127 dead birds in different locations. What was alarming was the sighting of one dead spotted dove in Rajaji Tiger Reserve, six mynas in Chidarwala, Rishikesh and four pigeons in AIIMS Rishikesh.
Jaipur zoo in Rajasthan was shut indefinitely on Monday after four birds — three common ducks and a black stork — died. The virus spread to two more districts of the state — Tonk and Karauli — on Monday. With this, 15 of the state’s 33 districts have been hit by bird flu. As many as 371 bird deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 3,321.
In neighbouring Gujarat, two more districts — Vadodara and Surat — were hit by the virus.
In Maharashtra, where avian influenza was confirmed on Sunday, the administration will start culling 80,000 poultry birds at a farm in Parbhani from Tuesday.
In UP, the government notified the entire state as “controlled area”.