The first report was a Follow Up Report No. 1 dated 22 January. It described two new outbreaks of HPAI in backyard poultry flocks in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal, starting on 14 January. In total, 81,547 birds were involved, and 569 died. All the remaining birds were destroyed.

Follow Up Report No. 2 was dated 28 January. It describes another outbreak in the same district, starting on 19 January. Again, a backyard flock of 16,099 was affected. Of these, 280 birds died and 2,088 were destroyed.

According to the report, the epidemiological investigation is ongoing. Stamping out of all domestic poultry is being applied in an approximately three kilometre radius zone around the outbreaks followed by compensation of the owners.

An intensive surveillance campaign has been launched in a 10 kilometre radius zone including closure of poultry markets and prohibition on sale and transportation of poultry products in the infected zone, and disinfection of premises after culling and sealing of premises where appropriate. Restocking will be permitted in accordance with the required protocol.

The presence of the H5N1 virus subtype has been confirmed.

Further Reading

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