The death of 800 chickens over the past five days in a State poultry farm in West Bengal's Malda district has led to fears of a fresh outbreak of bird flu in the region. Reports on the samples sent for testing in the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal are awaited. The deaths come only a few days after it was confirmed that more than 300 poultry birds had died of avian flu in two blocks of the adjoining Murshidabad district. Both these districts were among those hit by the avian flu outbreak in the State in January-February in which 1.5 lakh poultry birds died. Poultry owners in Malda district reported a slump in sales since the deaths. "The administration is awaiting the results from the Bhopal laboratory and in the event of confirmation the necessary precautionary steps will be taken,' District Magistrate, Malda, C.R. Das told The Hindu over telephone from Malda on Tuesday. D. Chakravarty, Principal Secretary, Animal Resources Development department, said the deaths were not surprising given the spread of avian flu across the State earlier in the year and the incubation period of the virus. Culling operations of poultry birds within a five km radius of the area in the Murshidabad-Jiaganj block where avian flu had been reported earlier this month is over, but is continuing in the other affected areas in the Raghunathpur block, Mr. Chakravarty said. Some 22,000 poultry birds out of the target of 50,000 are yet to be culled and the operations should be over within a day or two, he said. Meanwhile, the Centre has given primary approval for the up-gradation of the regional diagnostic laboratory for animal diseases in the city on the lines of the laboratory in Bhopal. This followed a request by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Once upgraded the centre would benefit not just the State but also the entire eastern and north-eastern parts of the country, according to the Minister for Animal Resources Development, Anisur Rahaman.