Alappuzha: Bird flu outbreak was confirmed in one more local body in Alappuzha on Saturday.
The presence of the H5N1 virus was detected in the samples of birds found dead at Karamuttu in Karuvatta grama panchayat, officials of the Animal Husbandry department said.
Around 8,000 ducks and domesticated birds within a one-km radius of the hotspot will be culled in the coming days to check the disease spread.
The movement, sale and use of duck, chicken, quail and other domestic birds, their eggs, meat and waste (manure) in the region have also been banned.
The outbreak has so far been detected in three local bodies in Alappuzha.
Avian flu was first confirmed in ducks at Vazhuthanam in Haripad municipality last month. Later, the outbreak was detected in Cheruthana on November 4.
Around 20,471 poultry birds were culled then.
In India, bird flu or avian influenza is spread mainly by migratory birds coming into the country during the winter months between September and March. The disease is zoonotic.
