Over 27,000 chickens have died in the last 15-day in Nandurbar district of Maharashtra and 70% of them are from the H5N1 bird flu virus strain. The local Collector Jayant Gaekwad said that there were on confirmed human infestation although there are reports of people being admitted to the hospital. When the birds started dying, the initial suspicion was Ranikhet disease and only after confirmation from the National Anima Laboratory at Bhopal was a bird flu outbreak confirmed. Gaekwad said that all poultry deaths took place within one taluk, which had 49 farms and 400,000 birds. As a precaution, the State Government has asked all these birds to be slaughtered. Secretary of Animal Husbandry and Dairying P.M.A. Hakeem said that India had 2 months vaccine stocks imported from Europe and he indicated that 3-10 kilometer radius around the area will be cordoned off. He said India had previously tested 20,000 birds since 2004 but this was the first confirmed incidence. He said that chicken cooked at 60 degrees centigrade for 15 minutes is not harmful to humans The poultry industry does not agree with the Government saying that there is no confirmation yet on whether the birds were infected with bird flu or not.