Bird flu was verified a few days ago by the Bhopal laboratory. As a precaution, the authorities on Saturday ordered the culling of poultry at two farms in the ICAR’s surrounding territories. The Centre has issued an alert on the H5N1 virus or bird flu after nine states, including Jharkhand and Punjab, reported outbreaks since January. In an advisory issued on March 7, the Central Government’s Dairy and Animal Husbandry Department asked all States and Union Territory (UT) administrations to increase surveillance in high-risk areas like poultry farms and bird markets. “There is no need to get panicky. Patna has not been declared as a bird flu-affected district so far, and steps will be taken accordingly once we get reports of samples which are being collected from poultry farms,” said Patna civil surgeon Avinash Kumar Singh. The authorities concerned culled around 25 birds to prevent the spreading of the infection, the civil surgeon informed.