As many as 1,565 cattle died in the state due to Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) as the disease spread to 20 districts, according to the state government. The government has vaccinated 10 lakh cattle, formed a task force to counter the disease and imposed restrictions on movement of cattle in affected districts. LSD has been reported in 55,950 cattle in 2083 villages of 20 districts, including Kutch, Jamnagar, Devbhumi Dwarka, Rajkot, Porbandar, Morbi, Surendranagar, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Botad, Junagadh, Gir Somnath, Banaskantha, Surat, Patan, Aravalli, Panchmahal, Mahisagar, Valsad and Mehsana. State Agriculture Minister Raghavji Patel said the government has imposed restrictions in organising cattle fairs and movement of cattle and in 14 of the affected districts. A formal notification has been issued by the government on July 26. The worst affected is Kutch district. “I will visit Kutch this Thursday to review the situation,” said the minister adding that he has already visited Jamnagar, Devbhumi Dwarka, Junagadh and Rajkot. A state level task force under the leadership of Naresh Kelawala, vice-chancellor of Kamadhenu University, has been constituted to provide appropriate advice and guidelines regarding vaccination and treatment of this disease. This task force will have five members. The minister said that the government has received 21,026 calls on the free helpline number 1962 over the past eight says in connection with LSD. Patel said that the government has a stock of 7.9 lakh vaccine doses. Newsletter | Click to get the day's best explainers in your inbox Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel will travel to Kutch on Tuesday to review the LSD situation in the district. He will visit isolation and vaccination centres and meet officials from the district administration.
