Culling to be over in 3 days

Cullers attached to a Rapid Response Team of the Animal Husbandry Department in Peringara village in Pathanamthitta district on Friday. Photo: Leju Kamal

The government has announced that the ongoing operations to control the spread of avian influenza would be intensified. As many as 18,822 birds had been culled till Thursday. The operation was expected to be over in three days, after which the affected areas would be sanitised and surveillance maintained.

A review meeting convened by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy here on Friday decided to begin disbursement of compensation to farmers immediately and step up the pace of culling in Alappuzha, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts where the H5N1bird flu virus has been confirmed.

Briefing the media, Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar said District Collectors had been directed to begin payment of compensation immediately. The compensation amount has been fixed at Rs.100 for chicks and Rs.200 for adult birds. He said 10,000 protective kits had been procured for the culling teams and efforts were on to purchase another 10,000.

A consignment of 30,000 Oseltamivir antiviral tablets was due to arrive on Saturday and another 50,000 tablets in a week’s time. Mr. Sivakumar said the government had invited tenders for the supply of 3,00,000 tablets to be kept as buffer stock.

Monitoring system

Surveillance teams would be pressed into service soon to mop up dead and diseased birds in the affected areas. It was informed that 44 teams were at work to cull birds within a one-km radius around the affected areas.

As many as 245 teams have been kept ready for the operation. A monitoring system would be put in place to prevent the transport of poultry into and out of the affected panchayats. Mr. Sivakumar said squads had visited more than 14,000 houses to monitor the health status of the people and prevent the spread of the virus to humans.

Hospitals in the three affected districts have been equipped with isolation units. Directives had been issued to adopt preventive measures in other districts.

As many as 63 samples of dead birds found in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kollam districts have been sent for analysis, Animal Husbandry Director V. Brahmanandan said.

Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, Chief Secretary E.K. Bharath Bhushan, and senior officials participated in the meeting.