In the wake of an epidemic of bird flu in Madhya Pradesh, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan on Wednesday held an emergency meeting at his residence with senior officials and decided to provisionally stop poultry business and trade of other birds with certain states of south India to check the disease spread.

The decision comes as Kerala begins to report mass avian deaths, detecting the spread of bird influenza amongst the species.  A review meeting was soon called by Chouhan who announced the temporary ban on poultry trade as a precautionary measure.

The Chief Minister said, “Bird flu not found in any poultry farm in the affected area. We will temporarily restrict the trafficking of poultry from Kerala and other affected states. We are keeping a watch on the situation. Trading of poultry will be restricted for a limited period from some states of South India,"  He added, "Reports also suggest the virus has been found in poultry in Kerala, so any kind of imports with respect to poultry will be monitored closely.".

Madhya Pradesh became the latest state to be hit by avian deaths after the death of birds, mostly crows were reported from three places in the state namely- Indore, Agar Malwa, and Mandsaur. As per the latest reports, the state has not reported any cases of bird flu from poultry farms.

Earlier in the day, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Giriraj Singh spoke exclusively to Republic Media Network allaying fears over the bird flu asserting that there was 'no need to panic.' 

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