Delhi and Maharashtra have confirmed bird flu amid nationwide efforts to contain the spread.
The district administration in Maharashtra's Parbhani has now decided to cull nearly 8,000 birds in Murumba village where these hens died, Collector Deepak Muglikar said.
Earlier, Muglikar on Saturday said around 900 hens had died at a poultry farm, run by a Self-Help Group, in the village and their samples were sent for testing.
"The cause of the death has been confirmed as bird flu. Hence, we have decided to cull all the birds in one-km radius of the place where these deaths took place," the collector said.
"We have created a prohibitory zone in 10 km radius of the area where the birds died. No birds will be transported from there to any other place. Our medical team is stationed there and it is examining all people of the village," he said.
There is no need to be panic and the district administration is taking all precautions.
The bird flu outbreak has already been confirmed in Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh.
The central government on Sunday said it has directed zoo managements to submit daily reports to the Central Zoo Authority till their area is declared free from the disease.
The CZA, under the environment ministry, issued an office memorandum saying avian influenza is a scheduled disease under the Prevention and Control of Infectious and Contagious Diseases in Animals Act, 2009, and reporting such a disease is obligatory for taking appropriate preventive measures against its spread.
In Delhi, testing of eight samples sent to a Bhopal-based laboratory has confirmed bird flu in the city, officials said.
All eight samples -- four from a park in Mayur Vihar Phase 3, three from Sanjay Lake and one from Dwarka -- have been found positive for avian influenza, Dr Rakesh Singh from the animal husbandry unit of the Development Department said.
The report of the test results arrived on Monday morning, he said.
Officials earlier said that around 50 crows had died in Central Park, Mayur Vihar Phase 3 in a span of three to four days.
Ten ducks were found dead in the Sanjay Lake recently.
A few samples were also sent to a lab in Jalandhar. Their results are awaited, Singh said.
The Delhi Development Authority has already closed Hauz Khas Park, Dwarka Sector 9 Park, Hastsal Park and Sanjay Lake as a precautionary measure in view of the bird flu scare.
Hauz Khas Park in south Delhi has a huge water body and attracts a large crowd every day. However, no death of birds has been reported there.
The poultry market in Ghazipur has also been shut down temporarily.
