"Around 51,000 hens and ducks will be culled within a 3-km radius of the affected zone," said A K Agarwal, secretary of the ARD department.
Twenty teams have been deployed for the culling process in five affected villages in the state. The killed hens and ducks are buried isolated area near the Bangladesh border. The area has been monitored to avoid spreading of the epidemic.
Steps have already been taken by the state government to avoid spreading the disease to humans. Teams will go house to house in the affected area in Nadia district of West Bengal and test the contact history of flu-prone people.
The fear of bird flu struck the state when the death of 849 fowls was reported on a single day. The samples were sent to the laboratory and bird flu was confirmed.
The Union Health Ministry also deputed a team to take stock of the situation in West Bengal.
The team comprising three experts from the National Centre for Disease Control, New Delhi and the All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, Kolkata, will report back to the Centre following concerns expressed by the Prime Minister.
