Punjab Animal Husbandry Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa on Friday said that the State is “almost safe” from the bird flu as 99.5 per cent tested samples of the poultry farms across the State were found negative.

“The 99.5 per cent of the poultry farms in Punjab are free from bird flu, out of the total samples tested so far at Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Jalandhar,” said Bajwa.

He said that only 0.5 percent of the farms have been found to be infected with the avian influenza.

Bajwa expressed hope that with the hardworking efforts of the State Government and poultry farmers, the state would soon be fully safe from the bird flu.

Punjab Government aims to test 100 per cent of all poultry farms or backyard poultry in the State. “The State Government is committed to provide disease free poultry products to the people,” added Bajwa.

Giving information about the prevention of bird flu in the state, the Additional Chief Secretary (Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Dairy Development) Vijay Kumar Janjua said that so far, 8,022 samples have been tested at Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at Jalandhar in Punjab.

“There are about 641 egg laying poultry farms and about 2,851 meat production farms in the state and so far RDDL, Jalandhar has collected and tested samples from around 750 farms,” he said.

At the same time, Janjua appealed to the general public to eat fully cooked meat and eggs as experts have advised that it is safe to eat, if meat and eggs are cooked at 70 degree Celsius for minimum for 20 minutes.

At the same time, he said that the Punjab Government would extend full support to the poultry farmers for conducting the tests of their poultry farms and these tests would be done completely free of cost.