In Kerala’s Kottayam, 10,500 birds to be culled to contain avian flu spread

New Delhi: Alarmed at the spread of bird flu, Kerala government has sprung into action to contain the crisis before it goes out of control. Kottayam District Magistrate (DM) M. Anjana today announced that stringent measures are being taken including culling of 10,500 birds in the district to prevent its spread.

“Avian flu has been detected in ward number 14. The ducklings of one single farmer have been affected. Culling process has started and we have identified around 10,500 birds around the affected area. All of them will be culled in the next two days, action has already started,” she said while speaking to ANI.

The Kerala government has already declared bird-flu as a state-specific disaster and issued a high alert after the outbreak of bird flu was confirmed in various parts of Kottayam and Alappuzha districts.

“Post-operative sanitisation work will also be completed after the culling of the birds. We are doing surveillance in all the panchayats in the entire district,” Anjana added.

There are rising concerns over the spread of the avian flu as this can also affect human lives. Explaining about the measures being taken by Kottayam health department, she said, “At the same time, there are surveillance activities being taken to detect any symptoms in human beings. The activity area of the department will be around three kilometres around the epicenter.”

“We have 16 members in the field, they are looking for the symptoms of the respiratory tract and fever. So far no symptoms have been detected in human beings. we are confident that we will be able to control the avian flu in the next few days,” she added.

The avian flu has already claimed lives of thousands of ducklings in Kerala. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have already blocked any entry of poultry from Kerala to contain the spread of flu.