Bird flu scare: State govt puts preventive measures in place

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 19

Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij has said that no case of bird flu (H5N1 virus) has been reported among people in the state. The Health Department has been directed to be in touch with the Centre to prevent its outbreak.

Panchkula district has been on alert since the outbreak of bird flu at Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh.

“The Centre has not issued any advisory or alert, but the department has been directed to take precautionary measures so that rumours and epidemic do not spread in the state,” he said.

Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Ram Niwas today held a meeting to review the situation. The department is geared up to prevent bird flu in Panchkula district, he said. Two helpline numbers have been launched in case of any query — Dr Aparajita Sondh (8288021859) and Dr Jyoti Kaushal (9876500239).

Niwas said active surveillance had already been started within 3-km zone of Panchkula district adjoining Sukhna Lake to prevent the spread of bird flu.

Four workers from Saketri who were culling and mopping up birds at Sukhna Lake have been home-quarantined and put on tablet TamiFlu with daily follow-up for 10 days. Besides, the Animal Husbandry Department has started surveillance of the poultry.

Seven Rapid Response Teams (RRT) have been formed for surveillance for backyard poultry in infected zone (0-1 km) as well as in the alert zone (up to 10 km).

The Animal Husbandry Department has identified 60 backyard poultries in the alert zone, and owners of 120 poultry farms in Barwala and Raipur Rani have been alerted to watch out for any unnatural deaths in the poultry.

The Additional Chief Secretary said the district RRT team had been constituted to tackle the situation in Panchkula. Panchkula Civil Surgeon Dr VK Bansal is the Nodal Officer for bird flu in the district. An isolation ward had been made in the General Hospital, he added.