The DoAH, which had declared Bhaktapur as an emergency zone on Wednesday imposed emergency in three locations of Kathmandu on Friday evening. Officials say that all the fowls of the emergency zones will be culled and sales of chickens have been banned in those areas.
The office has declared Thankot, Gothatar-Mulpani and Kirtipur of Kathmandu as emergency zones following the detection of H5N1 virus in several poultry farms in those areas.[break]
"We deployed 18 separate teams of vet technicians in the Valley on Saturday," Dr Ramkrishna Khatiwada, an official at DoAH, said. He said that the office has also increased labors to exceed the culling works. Khitawada said that the District Veterinary Office (DVO) Bhaktapur has deployed 14 teams to cleared remaining chickens. The office hoped to clear all tainted fowls within the next few days.
The Kathmandu DVO said that three separate rapid response teams have been deployed at Thankot, Gothatar and Kritipur areas to cull chickens. The office estimated about 30,000 chickens at the poultry farms in those areas. "Most of the chickens of the areas have already been culled," said Bolaraj Acharya, chief of Kathmandu DVO. He said that additional teams will be deployed on Sunday, if needed. Likewise, vet technicians on Saturday culled all remaining 1,200 chickens at a Bhaisepati-based poultry farm in Lalitpur district following confirmation of the virus.
Meanwhile, The DoAH said that emergency has been imposed in Kathmandu for a short period and will be lifted once chickens of the areas will be cleared. "The ban will be lifted once we clear all tainted fowls of the area," Khatiwada added. He said that poultry farmers of the Chitwan and Dhading cannot bring their chickens from Thankot route. "They have to bring through Passang Lamhu Highway," he added.
Over 400,000 chickens of the Valley´s poultry farms have been culled in last one month following the outbreak of the
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