There has been an outbreak of bird flu in India's northeast state Tripura, Xinhua quoted officials as saying today. The state will cull around 20,000 birds starting Tuesday, according to the Indo-Asian News Service. "We have received a report from the Indian High Security Animal Diseases Laboratory (HSADL) as samples from state's Dhalai district tested positive," said Aghore Debbarma, Tripura's agriculture and animal resource development minister. "Massive preventive measures have been taken to check the spread of the avian influenza virus while the culling of birds would start Tuesday," the minister said. Over 3,000 chickens, ducks, crows and other birds reportedly died in the past two weeks. The state government has banned the sale and consumption of poultry and poultry products in the affected areas. The authorities also announced compensation for affected people and poultry owners, the report said. The first outbreak of H5N1 bird flu this year was confirmed in Indian eastern state West Bengal on January 15. The state has culled more than four million birds to combat India's worst outbreak of the bird flu, the resources said.
