SHILLONG: The World Health Organization (WHO) has sounded alarm bells after two reported outbreaks of the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 in poultry farms in Odisha and one in a state run farm in East Garo Hills in Meghalaya.

The samples from the two states which were sent to the National High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal confirmed that fowls from the poultry farms tested positive for the scientific polymerase chain reaction test and virus isolation test.