Men culling birds in Kerala to prevent spread of the virus strain
Nearly 2.60 lakh ducks had been culled since November 26 after the outbreak of H5NI virus in three affected districts of Kerala, where no person was found infected, Minister for Animal Husbandry K P Mohanan said in Thiruvananthapuram today.
Making a statement in the House under rule 300, he said preventive measures taken by government to check the spread of the disease to human beings included checks carried out on more than three lakh persons in the affected districts of Alappuzha, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta.
No person was found to have been infected, he said.
As an emergency measure, adequate medicines have been stocked in Alappuzha Medical College and other government hospitals and infrastructure in all of them beefed up, he said.
The Minister said an amount of Rs 84.20 lakh had been distributed to farmers who suffered losses due to the culling of birds.
The culling of birds in the affected districts is being done as per the protocol laid down by the World Health Organisation.
The outbreak of the infection, which has claimed over thousands of ducks in water-logged Kuttanad in Alappuzha and adjoining areas, has caused a huge losses to poultry rearers, most of them medium and marginal farmers.