ISLAMABAD, Feb 8: The federal government has directed the provinces to send district-wise updates on bird flu every three days after tests confirmed the presence of the virus in two small bird flocks in Rawalpindi and Mansehra on Tuesday.

A sense of emergency has gripped the Federal Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) and Ministry of Health after the virus resurfaced for the first time since an outbreak in July 3, 2006.

Senior officials of both the ministries are to meet representatives of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank here on Friday to persuade them for early release of funds for the joint bird flu surveillance project, costing over Rs2billion. The project was halted because of technical difficulties and the banks’ unwillingness to provide a grant instead of a loan.

“Provincial livestock departments are preparing surveillance reports at district level, which will be sent to the government every three days,” a federal government spokesman on bird flu, Dr Mohammad Azfal, told Dawn on Thursday. The exercise involved special teams of about 4,000 experts in addition to the provincial governments’ veterinarians, he said.

Dr Afzal said the virus had not been detected in samples collected from other areas of the country.

Mr Afzal said the World Bank had asked the Minfal and the health ministry to come up with a joint project, covering both human and animal anti-bird flu surveillance. Minfal had proposed a project to protect animals, which had not been accepted by the bank.

Sources in Minfal said the government is seeking at least $25 million in technical assistance from donors to deal with bird flu and support the poultry industry.

“The government is in no position to come up with funds on its own funds to prepare a contingency plan for bird flu and help the poultry industry,” an official said.