Delhi Chief Minister on Thursday directed poultry markets to reopen and withdraw all the restrictions after the bird samples sent for the diagnosis of the bird flu returned negative. Fears of Avian Influenza outbreak were doing rounds from the past few days. Restrictions on import of chicken from other states were imposed in wake of bird flu on January 9, which has now been reversed. The Delhi Animal Husbandry Unit confirmed that no bird flu has been detected in the poultry samples sent from the city.
Senior Animal Husbandry Unit officer Rakesh Singh on Thursday morning informed that it is now clear that there is no spread of avian influenza in poultry birds in Delhi. The Delhi CM tweeted that samples taken from poultry markets have tested negative with respect to Bird Flu. Have directed to open the poultry market & withdraw the orders to restrict trade & import of chicken stocks.
The announcement came after all 100 samples taken from Asia’s biggest poultry market in Ghazipur tested negative for Avian influenza. The results came three days after samples taken from crows and ducks in Delhi tested positive. This had led to the Delhi government on Monday banning the sale of processed and packaged chicken brought from outside the city.
The results came three days after samples taken from crows and ducks in Delhi tested positive, creating panic among authorities and civic agencies who then shut down several parks in the city and imposed restrictions on sale of chicken.
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Samples of 104 birds were sent to a Jalandhar-based lab to check for bird flu, and the test results arrived on Wednesday evening. Out of these, 100 samples were collected from 35 poultry birds in the Ghazipur market. All samples have tested negative for bird flu, director of Delhi government’s animal husbandry department Rakesh Singh said.