The Rapid Response Teams deployed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperative to take the bird flu outbreak in control have killed 1,035 chickens, 10 ducks, 53 pigeons and destroyed 205 eggs in Ruibari and surrounding areas of Sharanamati village in Jhapa district in eastern Nepal by Monday.

According to Tuesday's nepalnews.com, culling and killing of birds started on Sunday after declaring the area surrounding Ruimari a "bird-flu affected area".

The operation is expected to complete soon as there are no large poultry farms in the area. It is expected that there are about 9,000 chickens in the village.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives has deployed 50 technicians to the bird flu affected area to control the deadly H5N1 virus from spreading.

The test carried out in the Central Veterinary Laboratory in Kathmandu and OIL Reference Laboratory in London detected H5N1 strain of the avian influenza virus in all six chicken samples collected from a poultry farm, some 320 km southeast of Kathmandu, spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives Hari Dahal said Friday.

The samples were sent to the laboratories for the detection of the virus following the death of some 150 chickens in the poultry farm.

Nepal had managed to remain safe from the avian virus even after it was traced in neighboring villages of India.

After the first outbreak of the disease in the country on Jan. 16, the government had declared emergency in the area.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives has said that measures will be taken to control the virus. In the emergency area, all birds, bird products and materials used for production of poultry will be destroyed.

(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2009)