At a time when thousands of cattle have been afflicted by lumpy skin disease (LSD) in Uttarakhand with the department concerned evidently failing to curb the spread of the virus, the State’s Animal Husbandry minster Saurabh Bahuguna chaired a meeting to review the situation on Thursday. With the virus already having afflicted thousands of cattle and having caused the death of hundreds of cattle, the minister released standard operating procedure (SOP).  Based on information handed to him by the officials, the minister said that so far a total of 20,505 cases of the disease had been registered in Uttarakhand out of which 8,028 cattle had been reportedly cured and 341 had died. He said that the recovery rate is currently 40 per cent while the fatality rate is 1.6 per cent. Regarding the vaccination of the cattle, the minister said that the government has appointed nodal officers to monitor the status of the disease. He said that the State has about six lakh doses of the vaccine out of which 5.80 lakh have been distributed in various districts. Further, the State government has placed an order for four lakh more doses.  He said that every person rearing a cattle should get the animal insured so that they get adequate compensation even if the animal dies. He said that people can call the toll free number 1800 120 8862 to get information about the disease.

Releasing the SOP, the minister opined that all will have to be aware of lumpy skin disease. He said that cattle in Haridwar and Dehradun are most affected by the disease with 11,350 registered cases in Haridwar and 6,383 in Dehradun. The minister further averred that the Central government has provided vaccination and funding related assistance on time. Animal Husbandry secretary BVRC Purushottam, Information director general Banshidhar Tiwari and other officials concerned were also present in the meeting.