The Iraqi government have imposed a curfew on the country’s chickens, the authorities said on Monday, after discovering one that was infected with bird flu, north of Baghdad.
The announcement came as the new government of Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi declared that its priority is to combat the novel coronavirus, amid woeful conditions of the country’s infrastructure.
Health Minister Hassan Al Tamimi told a news conference that “contagion enclaves” were discovered in Baghdad and that the authorities sealed off on Monday certain neighbourhoods, without specifying which ones.
The Agriculture Ministry said that it had decided to "impose a ban on the movement of poultry and their travel between provinces,” spokesman Hamid Al Nayef told the state news agency.
He said the decision was made after a chicken was diagnosed with the disease in “one of the farms in Nineveh province”.
“The situation is under control as 30,000 chickens were annihilated and another 30,000 executed,” Mr Al Nayef said, referring to the chickens that were living in the farm and without explaining the difference between the two procedures.
He signalled that the carcasses of all of the 60,000 chickens were burnt “to prevent the spread of the virus”, without ruling out that the chickens may have been torched while alive.
Mr Al Nayef said bird flu is a “contagions disease spread by migrating birds,” and that it "exists in 38 countries”.
Bird flu infects chickens and their human consumers. At least 1,233 cases of the disease were recorded worldwide among human beings in the last seven years, according to online-course site FutureLearn.
Fatalities range from 20 to 40 per cent, but FutureLearn said “the spread from person to person is limited which has, in turn, reduced the number of associated deaths”.
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Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
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What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
