The Hindu : National : Centre admits delay in reporting bird flu

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 22, 2006

National

National

Centre admits delay in reporting bird flu

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI : The Union Government on Tuesday admitted that there had been a delay in reporting the death of birds at Navapur to the local administration.

Briefing reporters here, Upma Chowdhry, Joint Secretary (Animal Husbandry) said though the deaths had been occurring in the areas for sometime, the local administration learnt about them through a report in a local newspaper on February 8.

A team of officers drove to Navapur in the night and informed the State Government orally about the possibility of an outbreak of the Ranikhet disease. It picked up samples and sent them to Pune where preliminary tests led to suspicion of bird flu. The Centre was informed about it on February 10.

The samples were subsequently sent to the High Security Animal Laboratory at Bhopal, where a series of tests began on February 11.

However, it was only after multiple tests confirmed the presence of Avian Influenza H5N1 virus that the Government made the announcement of the outbreak.

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