Amid the ravaging threat of the third wave of Covid-19, India has reported its first bird flu death after an 11-year-old boy succumbed to the disease at AIIMS, New Delhi.
The deceased boy, who hailed from Haryana, was undergoing treatment for Avian Influenza at AIIMS during which he died.
Notably, since the beginning of this year, it is the first bird flu death in India.
A senior All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) official said that the boy, who was infected with avian influenza, has died, and the entire staff concerned has been placed in isolation as a preventive measure.
According to the World Health Organisation, human cases of bird flu occur "occasionally" but when they do happen, the mortality rate is about 60 per cent.
As per reports, bird flu outbreaks were reported across the country earlier this year, including in Haryana where the H5N8 subtype. Apparently, the latest strain of infection detected was not known to infect humans.
However, earlier this year, when bird flu cases were reported in Delhi, Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Haryana, the Central government sounded an alert.
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In order to curb the spread of infection, culling of birds also took in various parts of the country.
Earlier in January, when a sample collected from the Red Fort had tested positive for bird flu, the Delhi government had then ordered the closure of the Ghazipur poultry market.
More samples collected from the Delhi zoo had returned positive in February.
Pertinently, the Avian Influenza resurfaced in March when 261 poultry birds were found dead in Maharashtra's Amravati and Nandurbar districts. Later in April, as many as 100 migratory birds were found dead in the Pong Dam Lake in Himachal Pradesh, which spread fear of infection.