: The district administration has lifted restrictions that were in place outside a radius of 10 kilometres from the areas where the outbreak of avian influenza had been reported. According to District Collector N. Padmakumar, all remaining restrictions will be withdrawn after receiving the notification of the Union Government in this regard.
The movement and sale of duck, chicken, eggs and bird feeds had remained under restriction outside a 10-km radius until a certain distance since the confirmation of bird flu outbreak in five places of the district.
Convening a meeting to assess the situation related to the bird flu, Mr. Padmakumar instructed duck farmers to report any symptoms of disease, seen in ducks within the 10-km radius, at the nearest veterinary hospital.
The veterinary hospitals in the identified areas have been equipped with adequate stock of the required drugs, he added.
The administration also launched on Tuesday a control room, which will function from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the District Animal Husbandry office (Contact no. 0477-2252636). Moreover, the round-the-clock control room that has been established at the District Collector to monitor the situation will continue to function (Contact no. 0477-2238630).
Officials informed the meeting that the rapid response teams have completed the culling of ducks in the identified areas, which were later disinfected during the second phase of the containment measures. In all, 2,51,262 birds, 2,50,995 eggs and 4,705 kg bird feed have been destroyed.
As per latest figures, Rs. 75,59,200 have been distributed among the farmers in the district as compensation for culled ducks.
A team of 30 personnel have been retained for the follow-up activities related to preventing the recurrence of the outbreak.
The team will undertake surveillance in the affected areas and also collect the samples of ducks that are suspected to be affected from the bird flu.
Meanwhile, the deaths of nearly 4,000 ducks have been reported from Ambalappuzha South panchayat during the previous week.
Following the intervention of the Collector in the development, officials of the Animal Husbandry department arrived at the spot and have collected the samples of the ducks.