KOCHI: The district administrative machinery is on the move to spot any cases of bird flu and will soon initiate measures to check poultry birds that are brought here for meat.

An emergency meeting will be held to review what has been done so far and to plan a strategy for beefing up the precautionary measures in the light of bird flu cases being reported elsewhere in the country.

Inter-sectoral co-ordination meeting had already been held, said A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish, District Collector.

The District Veterinary Officer and the District Medical Officer (DMO) have been given charge of carrying out the preliminary work like making their staff alert for reporting any symptom of a likely bird flu infection.

A sample survey of the poultry farms will be taken up, said Mr. Hanish. He cautioned against buying unchecked meat. "We are only cautioning the public to be vigilant. There is no need to ban chicken meat at this time," he said.

"We would watch the situation and will consider any such severe step if a situation arises," he said. Inspection will be done on a daily basis in the corporation markets, especially in the chicken section for any unhealthy meat, he said.

Health staff has been briefed about the bird flu symptoms. K.T. Remani, DMO, said that the department is working towards preventing any outbreak of the disease. There is no complacency since no cases have been reported here yet, she said. Alarm bells have been sounded among the health staff to report and meet any situation.

Since the work involves many departments, like the animal husbandry, health and agriculture, more meetings will be held in the coming week to assess the work undertaken so far and to plan further ahead.

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