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  8 more birds dead, Deer Park shut

8 more birds dead, Deer Park shut

AGE CORRESPONDENT
Published : Oct 21, 2016, 1:36 am IST
Updated : Oct 21, 2016, 1:36 am IST

With the death of eight more birds in the wake of bird flu scare in the city, the Delhi government shut the famous Hauz Khas Deer Park on Thursday.

DEL2.jpg
 DEL2.jpg

With the death of eight more birds in the wake of bird flu scare in the city, the Delhi government shut the famous Hauz Khas Deer Park on Thursday. The deaths are suspected to be cases of H5N1 influenza virus and the city government has cancelled the leaves of officials of the Delhi animal husbandry department. The Delhi Zoological Park has already been closed due to the bird flu scare.

With Thursday’s death of eight birds, two of them at Deer Park, the suspected bird flu toll has gone up to 18 since Friday. “On our helpline, eight cases were reported today at four places which include two dead birds at Delhi Zoo, two at Deer Park, one at Tughlakabad area, and three in Sundar Nagar,” Delhi development minister Gopal Rai said

He said that the samples of all dead birds have been sent to a laboratory in Jalandhar and the report is expected in the next two-three days. Of the 10 birds which had died till Wednesday at Delhi zoo since October 14, three have been confirmed as bird flu cases.

The government has appealed the residents to not touch the dead birds, in case spotted, instead to call its helpline number 011-23890318.

Asserting that the situation was not alarming, the minister said that precautionary measures were being taken. The government has sent 50 samples, including 20 from Delhi zoo and nine from Ghazipur chicken wholesale market, to a Jalandhar-based lab.

The government has asked the city’s chicken wholesale markets and poultry farms to inform it if they found dead birds and also keep their area clean. He said the government was also writing to Haryana and Uttar Pradesh governments seeking their cooperation in containing the situation as migratory birds enter the city from the neighbouring states.

The Delhi government has constituted four more rapid response teams besides the formation of a 23-member team headed by development commissioner Sandeep Kumar for better coordination between different departments.

Apart from this, government has formed ten teams of municipal corporations in reserve and asked the civic bodies to keep cleanliness at dump yards situated near chicken and poultry farms.

“We are closely monitoring bird sanctuaries, poultry farms, and chicken wholesale markets. There is no serious situation as of now. Government is fully prepared to deal with the disease. The health department has sufficient stock of Tamiflu tablet to deal with any emergency,” the minister added.

Location: India, Delhi, New Delhi