Chandigarh, Dec. 20 -- In a bid to avert any risk of avian influenza virus (H5NI) in Himachal, the State's Forest Department has launched active surveillance and monitoring at Pong Dam Lake, which is known as migratory birds' paradise.
As more than 55,000 migratory birds have so far descended on the Pong wetland in Kangra district for their winter sojourn, the Forest Department has also decided to collect samples from migratory birds for bird flu testing.
The bird flu scare comes amid Covid-19 pandemic outbreak across the world. Hundreds of thousands of birds are being culled in countries in Europe and East Asia as both regions are grappling with an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza.
Notably, the hill state- Himachal is among...