Six days into the New Year, India has been pushed to tackle the invisible adversity of virus as it has been getting emerged into multiple forms, levying new and multiple challenges in responding to the spread. While the country was caught up with the rampant spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, India is now preparing to address the epidemics of a COVID-19 variant and the latest emerged Avian Influenza outbreak - Bird Flu. Like how it reported the first case of the global pandemic in India, Kerala has now reported the spread of Bird Flu and the outbreak had shouldered major concerns across the country with the southern state already began the process of culling the birds.

Following the emergence of the Bird Flu outbreak, the Kerala state government has on Tuesday declared the outbreak as a state disaster and deployed precautionary measures to make sure that the flu is under control and won't get transmitted to humans. The outbreak has been detected in two districts in Kerala - Alappuzha and Kottayam. The state officials have on Tuesday begun the process of culling poultry birds including ducks in these two districts to curb the disease, which had already killed over 12,000 birds. 

The state government has decided to cull over 40,000 poultry birds in Alappuzha and Kottayam to contain the disease. On Tuesday, the state Animal Husbandry Director said that the disease has been added to the list of state disasters. With such declaration, the district Collectors would get more power in responding to the disease under the grounds of disaster management and there will also be a swift disburse of fund from the State Disaster Response Fund. 

According to reports, the district Collectors of Alappuzha and Kottayam had deployed special health squads, including doctors to carry out the process of culling the birds. While Kerala is the first state to declare the outbreak as a disaster, the other states are under high alert to contain the disease. The states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana had reported the Bird Flu outbreak and Kerala's neighboring state of Tamil Nadu has also deployed preventive measures. 

The Tamil Nadu state animal husbandry department has tightened the monitoring of the vehicles entering the state from Kerala. The government has also deployed the concerned officials to the bordering districts to grip up the measures. Along with a tight watch on the borders, the state government has taken steps to monitor the poultry farms in the state-particularly the Namakkal district, which has more poultry farms in the state. The Tamil Nadu government has begun monitoring the vehicles from Kerala from Tuesday in the border checkpoints in Coimbatore, Tirupur, Nilgiris, Kanyakumari, Theni, and Tirunelveli districts. 

Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan has said that the government has intensified screening at all districts bordering Kerala and multiple departments are working together to prevent human transmission of the virus. The officials are checking the vehicles at the checkpoints and while the vehicles carrying poultry were restricted entry, other vehicles from Kerala are allowed only after proper fumigation. The reports suggest that Himachal Pradesh had also reported the Bird Flu after 2,400 migratory birds were found dead. 

The states across the nation are preparing to cut the roots of the disease at the initial stage. Bird Flu or Avian Influenza is a viral infection like COVID-19 that can infect humans and other animals other than birds. While the disease infects the migratory birds, it may transmit to humans. Humans would feel the symptoms of cough, diarrhea, respiratory difficulties, headache, malaise, muscle aches, runny nose, and sore throat if infected with the Bird Flu, also known as H5N1 Influenza. 

According to reports, aquatic birds like ducks and geese would normally spread the infection, but many times, the other species of birds carry flu without developing sickness and the bird excreta is a main source of influenza. These water birds would spread the infection to poultry and terrestrial birds while they migrate and travel long distances. Sometimes, H5N1 will also jump over to mammals like dogs, horses, pigs, and cats. 

In 1997, humans are first known to have contracted bird flu following an outbreak in a live bird market in Hong Kong. The process of culling the infected birds has been a larger measure to curb the spread of the infection. The infection was initially contained but it re-emerged a few years in various other parts across the world and caused hundreds of human deaths, particularly in Southeast Asia. People who observe close proximity to infected birds are susceptible to the infection. 

According to the World Health Organization, bird flu doesn't spread from person to person and humans would also get infected through consuming contaminated or ill-cooked poultry food and the grounds of the trade of birds illegally, movement of infected poultry and migrated birds are the important reasons for the outbreak. According to the Union Health Ministry, no case of bird flu in humans has been detected so far in India in the wake of the latest outbreak.