BALLARI: Bird flu (H5N1 avian influenza) has been confirmed in the government poultry farm in Kurekoppa village of Sandur taluk in Ballari district. After more than 2,400 chickens died in a span of one week at the farm, the district authorities sent the samples to the laboratory in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, for tests, which have now confirmed the presence of bird flu.
Ballari Deputy Commissioner Prashant Kumar Mishra held an emergency meeting with the officials concerned and has directed them to stay vigilant.
The DC also announced a quarantine in a radius of 1 km around the poultry farm and declared it a restricted area.
Mishra said that between February 21 and 26, over 2,400 chickens died at the poultry farm. “We sent the samples for tests to Bhopal, and now it is confirmed that the chickens died owing to bird flu.
I conducted a meeting with the officials concerned and have issued strict guidelines,” he added. A senior district official said that the area falling under a radius of 10 km from the farm has been declared an alert zone.
The district administration has asked those working in poultry farms to get themselves tested. It can be recalled here that neighbouring Andhra Pradesh reported cases of avian influenza last week.