India sealed part of its border with Bangladesh on Thursday amid fears the latest outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus had spread to new areas, Reuters quoted officials as saying. Authorities in West Bengal state have killed about 10,000 birds in the Malda district which borders Bangladesh since Tuesday, despite resistance from villagers who want more compensation, after tests proved a new outbreak in the area. "We have already sealed the border with Bangladesh along Malda district to check the spread of bird flu through chickens and ducks smuggled in from the other side," West Bengal's animal resource development minister Anisur Rahman told Reuters. Hundreds of thousands of birds have also been culled in India's northeastern Assam state and neighboring Meghalaya since an outbreak was detected there last month.
