Jalandhar lab detects bird flu at two Dera Bassi farms

After the Northern Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Jalandhar, confirmed bird flu in samples from two poultry farms at Dera Bassi’s Behra village, the Punjab animal husbandry department on Friday said final confirmation from National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal, was awaited.

“Samples from Alpha Poultry Farm and Royal Poultry Farm at Behra village were found positive in the RT-PCR test. As per protocol, the samples were sent to the Bhopal lab for confirmation,” said VK Janjua, additional chief secretary, animal husbandry, fisheries and diary development, Punjab.

He said further course of action will be decided only after receiving reports from Bhopal. This may take a week. So far, there has been no detection of avian influenza in Punjab.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the Mohali animal husbandry department said after detection of bird flu in Panchkula’s Barwala belt, they were not taking any chances here. “Directions have been issued to 30 veterinary officers to start sampling live chicken in their jurisdictions. Every day, 50 samples will be collected across the district,” the official added.

Besides, the officers have been told to intensify surveillance at poultry farms as well as meat shops in Mohali.

Poultry farms in Mohali district are located in Dera Bassi, Lalru, Zirakpur, Gharuan and Banur.

The Punjab government had already declared the state a controlled area in view of the outbreak in neighbouring Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, and banned the import of live birds and unprocessed poultry meat.

Carcasses of 10 birds, bat found in Chandigarh

A total of 10 birds and a bat were found dead in various parts of the city on Friday, the UT forest and wildlife department confirmed. Six crows, two peacocks, a pigeon and a bat were recovered from Sector 50, Industrial Area Phase 1, Sector 40 and Panjab University, among other areas. Chief conservator of forests Debendra Dalai said, “After 21 samples sent till January 11 turned out to be negative, we haven’t sent any more samples for testing.”