The port city of Chittagong was put on high alert to combat bird flu after some dead crows tested positive.
The local administration swung into action with massive spraying of anti-virus liquid in the bazaars and dustbins from Saturday.
Bird flu virus were traced in some crows found dead recently at Agrabad in the city and tested in Dhaka, officials added.
Two control rooms were set up under the disaster management preparedness cell, the Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) and the district administration in a bid to monitor the bird flu situation, officials added. The Deputy commissioner of Chittagong, Asraf Shameem, said that Chittagong was brought under continuous surveillance after detection of bird flu virus in the dead crows.
He informed reporters that the bird flu virus has not yet been traced in any poultry farm here so far. ‘After we got the test report on dead crows, we took it seriously. All officials and concerned bodies were immediately asked to take precautionary measures to check the outbreak of bird flu,’ he claimed.
‘We held an emergency meeting for two hours till 12pm on Friday night and decided to maintain strong vigilance in addition to other required measures,’ he added. ‘We asked all officials in the city and upazilas to start massive spraying in local bazaars and on dustbins to prevent the outbreak of bird flu,’ he added.
‘If the virus is traced in any poultry firm, immediate measures will be taken for culling the fowls. Efforts are on for round-the-clock vigilance in this regard,’ he further said. Meanwhile, the sale of poultry birds and eggs declined in the local bazaars after the bird flu panic gripped the city and adjoining areas, said market sources.
Our Kushtia correspondent said that nearly 6,000 poultry birds were buried on Saturday after nearly 5,000 died within a span of five days in the Kushtia Agro Hatchery and Poultry Farm at Barokhada under Sadar Upazila.
Samples were sent to Dhaka on Friday through district livestock office for being tested. After extermination of affected fowls the rate of mortality in the farm has sharply fallen, claimed the farm owner Ataur Rahman on Saturday.
District Livestock Officer Ajay Kumar Roy said that whether it was bird flu or anything else cannot be said until the government order comes. He could not confirm when the GO would come.
The livestock office has, in the meantime, banned the entrance and departure of any poultry birds or products to or from the farm, said the DLO. ‘We are trying to combat the infection through our limited manpower,’ he added.
Panic gripped the people in the areas adjacent to the farm as it is located within a village. No disinfection programme has so far been launched in the area as the GO is yet to come. ’I have supplied the workers with gloves and masks as precaution,’ said the farm owner.
Source: The Commercial Times
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