Already grappling with COVID-19pandemic, Bihar has also reported bird flu cases from Nawada district, officials said on Friday.Nawada District Magistrate Yashpal Meena said that samples collected from a poultry farm in Rajahat village under Akbarpur block of the district have been found positive for bird flu.A total of 6,800 chicken have been culled so far, the DM said.The samples were sent for bird flu testing after the poultry farm reported chicken deaths, assistant poultry officer Dr Srinivas Kumar Sharma said, adding that samples were sent on April 16 while the district authorities received the report on April 21 confirming the bird flu.The culling was carried out on April 22 and 23, he added.Following the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), the entire area within 1-km radius has been declared as "infected zone" besides declaring areas up to 10 km radius of the poultry farm as "surveillance zone", the DM said, adding that 14-15 teams have been constituted for making assessment and surveillance of the area of 10 km.As per the set procedure, chicken and eggs were buried in a pit and the area sanitised, he said, adding that all poultry farms located within one km radius will be sanitised.
