Four new bird flu cases in Maharashtra

The government today said there have been fresh cases of bird flu in Jalgaon district in north Maharashtra. However, there has been no case in humans yet.

"We have decided to cull 75,000 birds following confirmation of bird flu cases," said Upma Chawdhry, joint secretary to the department of animal husbandry.

Jalgaon borders Dhule district from where the first cases of bird flu in the state was reported nearly a fortnight back.

A state government spokesman said, "The Bhopal-based government laboratory has confirmed that poultry birds from four towns in Jalgaon district have been affected by the virus."

Nearly 48,000 birds from towns like Raver, Dharangaon, Yaval and Chopda need to be culled and the operation will began from Wednesday.

State chief secretary D K Shankaran and other senior officials are rushing to Jalgaon to monitor the culling operations and all necessary precautions have been taken to ensure that the virus doesn't spread to humans.

This indicates a resurgence of the virus which was believed to have been contained after massive culling operations in Maharashtra and Gujarat in the last three weeks.

Chawdhry said 50 rapid response teams will be deployed to monitor and provide assistance in the areas around Jalgaon in Maharashtra.

Around 1,250 sq km around the area has been quarantined.

"The disease has remained confined to one state only and that too merely 140 km from Navapur, which was the original point of outbreak," said Chawdhry.

She said the samples were sent to the Bhopal laboratory on February 25 for tests. Meanwhile, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said there was no need to panic.