The Centre on Friday confirmed the outbreak of avian influenza in the Dasarahalli village of Bengaluru, PTI reported. The situation, however, was “fully under control” and a central team had been sent to assist the Karnataka government in the matter, the Agriculture Ministry said.

Dasarahalli is located to the east of Bengaluru city.

The ministry said the Bhopal-based National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases had confirmed on December 30 that samples taken from the location were found positive for the H5 strain of the avian influenza virus.

Birds in some poultry farm in the village had started dying in December, which triggered panic, the government said. After this, the area was quarantined, the birds were culled and samples were sent to the Bhopal institute for testing.

As many as 940 birds were culled within 1 km of Dasarahalli by three Rapid Action Teams, Principal Secretary of the Animal Husbandry Department, Rajkumar Khatri, told PTI.

“On the directions of the Centre, the Karnataka government has notified the outbreak and initiated the control and containment operations,” the government said.