WB: New case of bird flu in Murshidabad district, culling continues

A new case of bird flu outbreak was reported from Shamsherganj block of virus-hit Murshidabad district on Monday even as culling teams fanned out in eight affected districts to start operations.

Murshidabad District Magistrate Subir Bhadra told PTI that the new case of bird flu was reported from Shamsherganj block of the district. With this, the total number of bird flu affected blocks in the district has risen to 10, Bhadra said.

Thirteen of the 19 districts of West Bengal have been declared bird flu-affected after West Midnapore and South 24 Parganas were declared affected on Sunday.

Culling was over in Hooghly, Burdwan, Bankura, South Dinajpur and Nadia districts.

Fifteen culling teams have started work in West Midnapore district. The teams are culling in the five-km radius of Chakbelcha village under Debra block of Kharagpur sub-division, District Magistrate N S Nigam told PTI.

The state government had sanctioned a sum of Rs 20 lakh for culling in West Midnapore, Nigam said.

Ten teams have been formed to cull chicken in Chak Kashipur area of Budge Budge in South 24 Parganas district, official sources said. The target is to cull around 40,000 chicken.