50 dead birds, mostly crows, stoke avian flu scare in Delhi

New Delhi: Amid a bird flu scare across the country, around 50 birds, mostly crows, have died in the national Capital over the last three to four days, officials said on Friday.

"We received information about the death of crows in Dwarka and Mayur Vihar Phase 3 and of a few wild birds in Hastsal in West Delhi.

"However, it is yet to be ascertained if bird flu infection is the reason," Dr Rakesh Singh from the animal husbandry unit of the Development Department said.

Around 50 birds have died in these areas over the last three to four days, he said.

Officials from the department collected samples from the three areas and sent them to a designated laboratory

in Jalandhar, Punjab on Friday, he said.

"Four samples each have been collected from Hastsal and Mayur Vihar Phase 3, while one sample has been taken from Dwarka. We have been following the standard operating procedure," Singh said.

On Friday, reports of dozens of dead crows came in from the Mayur Vihar area, following which Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia took note of the issue and sent teams to collect samples.

"The rapid response team visited the place and found 17 dead crows in the park out of which four samples were collected. All remaining carcasses were disposed of by deep burial following bio-security measures and the area was properly sanitized," a statement from the Delhi government said.

Besides this, 100 more samples of poultry birds have been collected from across the city, Dr Singh said.

Meanwhile, the scare has kept people away from poultry meat. Shops selling poultry meat across the city have claimed that there has been a "noticeable dip" in sales over the last few weeks.

"Ever since the news of bird flu came out, the chicken sales have gone down by at least 20 per cent.

"We understand that customers go in a state of panic and stop buying chicken as a precaution, but it is important to know that once cooked properly, there is no health risk,"said Irshad Kureishi, general secretary of the Delhi Meat Merchants Association.

According to him, the dip in chicken prices from "Rs 200 per kg to Rs 150 per kg is a loss for both poultry farmers as well as the shopkeepers".

He added that the impact of bird flu scare on their business came while they were still dealing with the effects of COVID-19.

"We are yet to go back to our pre-COVID-19 business because the restaurants are no longer ordering meat in the same quantities. In weddings too, the requirements have significantly decreased, and now the bird flu news has only made things worse," he said.