Overview
- India’s NIHSAD laboratory in Bhopal confirmed H5N1 in crow samples collected on January 21 from the Kanchipuram–Chennai belt.
- The Union Animal Husbandry Ministry has directed Tamil Nadu to intensify surveillance of poultry farms, live-bird markets and affected zones, with civic disinfection drives underway.
- Veterinary staff have been told not to conduct field necropsies, to route carcasses to Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratories and to ensure deep burial or incineration.
- Public health advisories urge residents to report unusual bird deaths, avoid handling carcasses and seek care for flu-like symptoms, with no human infections reported so far.
- Forest and wildlife monitoring has been stepped up in fringe areas, border checks and market surveillance have been tightened, and agencies are coordinating under a One Health framework.