# 1546
Overnight two very different headlines have emerged from India on the bird flu situation:
Reuters 10:38
The Associated Press 11:51
The first story is based on a government declaration that the crisis is slowly being brought under control. Here are the opening paragraphs.
India says no fresh reports of bird flu
Sun 27 Jan 2008, 10:36 GMT
KOLKATA, India, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Authorities in eastern India fighting an outbreak of bird flu in poultry said on Sunday that there were no fresh reports of bird deaths but that the virus could still spread to new areas.
"The situation appears to be slowly coming under control, but we are still waiting for test reports of dead bird samples from a few other places," Anisur Rahaman, the animal resources minister for West Bengal, said on Sunday.
"It could still spread further," he added.
India's government says laboratory tests have confirmed the H5N1 flu virus strain in at least two of West Bengal's 19 districts, but said reports from 9 other districts were likely to be the same.
The next story, released a little more than an hour later, suggests it may be a bit early to roll out the `Mission Accomplished' banner.
Bird flu in India spreads to 2 new districts
By MANIK BANERJEE
Associated Press Writer
AP Photo/Sasanka SenCALCUTTA, India (AP) -- India's worst bird flu outbreak spread to two new districts, a senior government official said Sunday, as entry points to the eastern city of Calcutta were being closely watched amid fears the disease could spread to the crowded city.
Officials in the state of West Bengal, the center of the outbreak, have been struggling to contain the disease, which now has spread to 13 of the state's 19 districts.
"We have very strict surveillance on all the entry points to the city and we have earmarked 14 reputed poultry farms that maintain proper safety measures," state Animal Husbandry Minister Anisur Rahman told reporters.
All poultry sold in the city's teeming markets will now be sourced from one of the farms considered safe, Rahman said. All markets in the city also would be closely watched, he said.
The outbreak of the virus has so far been largely confined to rural areas, but there have been concerns it might spread to Calcutta, one of India's biggest cities with a population of 14 million.
On Friday authorities had confirmed the disease had reached an area less than 10 kilometers (6 miles) away.
As far as what is really going on?
Stay tuned.
