Back to business not before September

Once the disease is encountered in a geographical area, trade restrictions are a norm. ‘‘In order to resume normal trade practices, achieving the freedom from the disease is essential,’’ said Upma Chawdhury, Joint Director, Animal Husbandry.

The government is likely to take measure in this regard once the outbreak is contained. The extent of infection needs to be determined by sero-surveillance-repeated testing of the birds in the area for antibodies for the H5N1 virus. ‘‘Extensive surveillance needs to be carried out in the surveillance zone or area in the 10-km radius of the outbreak,’’ said Dr NK Ganguly, Director-General ICMR.

In order to achieve the desired results earlier, the plan of mass vaccination of the birds in the surveillance zone, in 3 to 10-km radius, has been dropped. ‘‘We realised that only 70,000 birds need to be culled. So the idea of mass vaccination was dropped as the number is too small and even the poultry farmers suggested that we cull the birds. Besides, vaccination could have been a hurdle in getting a disease-free status as antibodies can appear in the sero-surveillance,’’ said Dr SK Bandopadhyay, Animal Husbandry Commissioner.

While the government is likely to start the process of compensation for 1.5 lakh birds culled in Maharashtra and nearly 73,157 in Gujarat already culled since February 18, the farmers are not likely to be compensated for the loss of work for the waiting period as well. ‘‘It wouldn’t be possible to compensate the farmers,’’ said Dr Bandopadhyay.