Nepal declares Kathmandu valley district as bird flu emergency zone

Amid new cases of bird flu emerging almost every day for the past one month, Nepal has declared Bhaktapur district, one of the three districts of Kathmandu valley, as an emergency zone.

"Bird flu could not be controlled even after several attempts including chicken trade ban. Announcing Bhaktapur as an emergency zone was inevitable," government spokesperson Narayan Ghimire told Xinhua news agency.

All fowls including chicken, duck and pigeon will be destroyed along with their eggs, feed and excreta, and fowl farms will be cleaned and disinfected.

The emergency zone situation remains active for at least three months during which fowls cannot be transported and supplied to and from Bhaktapur and keeping of fowls is disallowed.

Sales of chicken and other fowl meat will also be banned.

The Ministry of Agriculture has formed a Rapid Response Team to cull some 500,000 fowls in Bhaktapur.

Since July 16, Bhaktapur has witnessed more than 40 cases of bird flu in 30 days, while the remaining two districts of Lalitpur and Kathmandu have reported at least 10 cases.

Total bird flu cases in the Nepali capital have crossed 50 in a short span of time.

The first bird flu case was reported in Nepal in 2009.