New cases of bird flu confirmed in Indian villages

Calcutta: New cases of bird flu have been confirmed in eastern India on Sunday, one month after four million birds were slaughtered to control the nation's worst outbreak of the disease.

Preparations were underway to kill birds in villages in West Bengal were to be killed, officials said.

According to a local official, approximately 900 birds have died of the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus over the past week in two villages near Calcutta, where bird flu was previously confirmed.

In January, West Bengal experienced an outbreak of the disease, causing authorities to kill nearly four million birds.
Officials did not say whether they would reinstate the ban given the fresh outbreak.

So far, no known human cases of bird flu have been reported in India.