India's Murshidabad slaughters 26,000 poultry amid bird flu outbreak

West Bengal's Murshidabad district has culled over 26,000 poultry birds due to the outbreak of bird flu, a health ministry official said.

The Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, which is under the ministry of agriculture, notified the outbreak of avian influenza in Hazrabati and Nagar villages in Murshidabad on January 14.

The culling of birds has begun and a total of 26,963 birds have been culled while 1,286 eggs have been destroyed thus far. The union health ministry has stationed a three-member central rapid response team at Murshidabad to assist the state health authorities.

According to the relevant officials, containment measures have been initiated and the situation is being monitored on a daily basis. Meanwhile, about 353 poultry workers involved in culling operations have been put on chemoprophylaxis, a medicine given to prevent the disease or infection from spreading to humans.

It was previously reported on January 18 that hundreds of infected birds had died in Murshidabad district earlier this month.