MUMBAI: About 80 per cent of the 8.5 lakh chicken in 46 poultry farms at Navapur of Nandurbar district have been destroyed so far. The remaining 1.25 lakh will be culled by Tuesday afternoon.

The Maharashtra Animal Husbandry Secretary, Uttamrao Khobragade, told reporters here on Monday that all the litter from the farms would be burnt in two days, he said.

About 18,000 birds in six backyard poultry farms are not infected but they will also be killed, he said. "The entire work would be over in two days."

"Not a single chicken has come out of Navapur and all other poultry farms in Maharashtra are under surveillance," he said. All trucks carrying chicken for Mumbai from the poultry farms near the city are being inspected. Mr. Khobragade said the Government had accepted the report of the Bhopal laboratory. He said no preventive measure was available and nobody knew where the infection came to Navapur from.

No samples to London

The Health Secretary, Vijay Satbir Singh, said the Director-General of Indian Council of Medical Research, Ganguly and other officials had confirmed that this was avian flu and there was no need to send any sample to London for further confirmation. Both the officials maintained that there was not a single case of human infection.

Mr. Singh said 94 persons, who had come into contact with the birds, were examined and found to be not suffering from any flu symptoms. Their blood samples and throat swabs were sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune for tests.

But the incubation period for the virus is 10 to 12 days, he said, adding that admitted, and the symptoms could show up after that period. Eight persons, including three children, were kept under observation at an isolation ward of the rural a hospital at Navapur, he said. Over 13,000 persons in the area have been surveyed.

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