After the bird flu cases came to light, the Union Animal Husbandry Ministry has directed that all necessary arrangements be made to prevent the spread of this disease. The Center has issued an alert after 9 states including Jharkhand and Punjab reported outbreaks of H5N1 virus or bird flu since January. In an advisory issued on March 7, the Dairy and Animal Husbandry Department of the Central Government asked all the states and Union Territories (UT) administrations to increase surveillance in high-risk areas such as poultry farms and bird markets.

Assuring necessary technical support, the Center urged all states to immediately implement the measures outlined in the National Action Plan for Avian Influenza. The consultation issued to the state and union territory administrations said that surveillance should be intensified in high-risk areas including live bird markets, habitats of migratory birds and dense poultry areas.

Centre's appeal to states

States are requested to strictly follow the National Action Plan for Avian Influenza (Revised 2021), activate rapid response teams and strengthen veterinary and laboratory capacities. Several cases of bird flu have been reported across the country, with 5,500 birds being culled in Ranchi last week to prevent the spread of the disease. Jharkhand also witnessed an outbreak in Ranchi district, where around 250 birds died of the flu, which was confirmed by the ICAR-National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD) in Bhopal. The outbreak started from a government poultry farm.

The Centre in its directive has confirmed the spread of the infection inside government-owned poultry establishments. Expressing concern over the biosafety lapse, the Centre said the outbreak “indicates potential deficiencies in containment measures at government farms, which require immediate corrective action… It is imperative that biosafety audit of all government poultry farms be conducted at the earliest and the deficiencies be addressed immediately.”

Another outbreak has been reported from Telangana, where the death of 3,500 indigenous chickens has affected the livelihood of many farmers. Last month, Telangana had banned poultry imports from neighbouring Andhra, where an outbreak was reported in East Godavari district.