New Delhi: No Avian Influenza, or bird flu, has been detected in the poultry samples sent from Delhi, including the Ghazipur chicken market, Delhi Animal Husbandry Unit has confirmed.
"Test results of 104 samples arrived on Wednesday evening. Of these, 100 samples were collected from 35 poultry birds in the Ghazipur market. All samples have tested negative for bird flu," senior Animal Husbandry Unit officer Rakesh Singh said.
"It means there is no spread of avian influenza in poultry birds in Delhi," he said.
However, bird flu was suspected in the remaining four samples of Heron birds taken from a park. They have been sent to Bhopal for confirmation, the official said.
On January 9, the Ghazipur wholesale poultry market, Asia's largest, was shut for 10 days as a precautionary measure after bird flu was confirmed in wild birds that dropped dead across parks in the city.
Spread of the zoonotic disease - transferrable to humans - led to a dip in sale of chicken and eggs, with poultry farmers reporting heavy losses despite Animal Husbandry Minister Giriraj Singh confirming "there has been no case of human transmission".
Even the Health Department issued a notification advisory asking people to not panic and follow a set of dos and don'ts, including not eating half-cooked chicken and half-boiled or half-fried eggs.
"H5N8 is highly pathogenic in birds but the pathogenicity in humans, as well as the likelihood of human infection with avian influenza (AH5N8) virus, is low," the notification said.
However, on Wednesday, all three civic bodies of Delhi had banned the sale, processing and packaging of poultry or poultry meat "till the next order" in areas under their jurisdiction.
Hotels and restaurants were warned against serving egg-based dishes or poultry meat and threatened with licence suspension if they fail to comply.
Bird flu has been confirmed in 10 states, including Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, prompting culling of birds with the centre summoning state officials to examine the availability of animal vaccines in the country.