After almost more than a year of dealing with COVID-19, the world is now grappling with a new fear. Russia has confirmed the first case of human infection with the avian influenza A(H5N8) virus in the world, a Russian sanitary official announced on Saturday.

What is bird flu? Avian influenza or bird flu is a type of viral infection that affects both humans and birds. Though it is deadly in birds, with humans there has been no sign of human-human infection.

Scientists have isolated the genetic material of this bird flu virus in seven workers of a poultry farm in south Russia, where an outbreak among fowls was reported in December, said Anna Popova, head of the country's consumer rights and human well-being watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Currently, in Russia, all the necessary measures are being taken to further protect the spread of the infection in both animals and humans, said the authority.

The aforementioned seven people are not doing well according to reports.

Bird Flu in India

Currently in India, though some states are on alert for the virus outbreak. No human transmission has been confirmed. In a recently released advisory, the Central government has asked states to keep a close watch on unusual activity.

It is believed that migratory birds are the reason for the transmission of the virus among fowls in India. To date, thousands of birds have been reported dead in Kerala (poultry) and Himachal Pradesh (migratory birds). Apart from that, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have reported the death of crows since the outbreak in December-end. Haryana has reported the death of over 400,000 chicken in the last 20 days.

A control room has been set up in Delhi, to keep an eye on the situation, but no human transmission has been reported yet.