KAVRE, Feb 24: High alert measures have been put in place in Kavrepalanchowk – the eastern entry point of Kathmandu Valley and the country’s second largest poultry production hub – after bird-flu has been detected in some districts, including federal capital Kathmandu.
In this connection, screening of birds has been tightened at main entry point of the district and stakeholders’ discussion at local level has also been ramped up. Panauti municipality organized an interaction with stakeholders on Wednesday with commercial poultry entrepreneurs of its area.
At the programme, municipality mayor Bhim Neupane urged the entrepreneurs to place high alert against bird-flu spread and not to hide the information about the flu outbreak. Livestock Specialist Dr Sudip Humagain urged the entrepreneurs to keep vigilance on farm management and sanitation so as to avoid loss and damage caused by bird-flu.
Adviser to Poultry Entrepreneurs Association Madhusudan Guragain said invasion of new diseases has eroded business opportunities which demands the adoption of new security strategies. Last week Banepa municipality also hosted a discussion with local stakeholders on contagious disease on birds and security screening in the checkpoints bordering with neighbouring districts.
The municipality has intensified anti-bird-flu campaign in different places. It may be noted that bird-flu was detected in two places of Morang, Chitwan and Kathmandu of late.
The government has decided to declare Ward No. 18 of Biratnagar Metropolitan City in Morang district a ‘bird flu-affected zone’, and it has plans to control the bird flu in the area by making Himalayan Agriculture Farm a centre point.
A meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Monday took the decision to this effect, Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki said while making the Cabinet decisions public by organising weekly regular press meet on Tuesday.
Government has decided to shut down schools in big cities considering the growing risk of Covid-19. The teaching/learning activities in those schools would be run virtually.
The meeting of the Council of Ministers held at Baluwatar today took the decision to instruct the schools in big cities run classes adopting alternative learning method until mid-May, shared Spokesperson of the government Parbat Gurung.
The Covid-19 cases were reported mostly from the school children in the urban areas. A total of 3,565 children below five years were reported to have contracted the flu-like infection as of Sunday. Similarly, 10 children under that had succumbed to the infection during this period.
Earlier, the Ministry of Health and Population had appealed to the school administration in 14 districts with highest risk of coronavirus infection not to run schools. Morang, Parsa, Bara, Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Chitwan, Kaski, Baglung, Rupandehi, Dang, Banke, Surkhet and Kailali had reported highest cases of Covid-19 amongst 77 districts in the country.
