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<ul><li>Kolkata is the most affordable residential market in the country. </li><li>Chennai and <keyword id="6354321" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="bengaluru" source="Orion">Bengaluru</keyword> also have relatively good affordability levels, but <keyword id="6358070" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="mumbai" source="Orion">Mumbai</keyword> may soon slip below the threshold of an affordable market. </li><li>It is becoming increasingly expensive to buy homes for buyers due to macroeconomic headwinds, inflationary pressures and rising input costs. </li></ul>Kolkata, <keyword id="6354552" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="hyderabad" source="Orion">Hyderabad</keyword>, and <keyword id="2094" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="pune" source="Orion">Pune</keyword> remain the most affordable residential markets in <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword> while the metropolitan city of Mumbai has become slightly less affordable, reveals real estate firm <keyword id="6370127" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="jll" source="Orion">JLL</keyword>’s Home Purchase Affordability Index (<keyword id="4260039" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="hpai" source="Orion">HPAI</keyword>) 2022 Report. However, affordability levels are set to progressively fall for 2022 and 2023 as macroeconomic headwinds and inflationary pressures eat into household incomes, and residential prices rise as input costs are yet to be fully transmitted, JLL said. RBI’s Repo rate hike is yet another factor that will lower affordability levels, it added. “Affordability levels are likely to trend down through the end of 2022 and thereafter in 2023 as well. Mortgage rates are likely to move up further to near 8-year highs. Price pressures and slower income growth are further likely to create a temporary glitch for affordability,” Samantak Das, chief economist, and head of Research and REIS, India, JLL said. This would, however, be a temporary phase, and the momentum witnessed during 2013 and 2021 – when affordability increased consistently across the key seven cities – is likely to sustain. “While affordability is likely to be impacted, the momentum-inhibitor looks to be a temporary one with India’s focus on economic growth and likely easing of inflationary pressures expected to reverse the current interest rate growth,” said <keyword id="7251915" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="siva-krishnan" source="Orion">Siva Krishnan</keyword>, managing director, and head of <keyword id="15703348" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="residential-services-india" source="Orion">Residential Services India</keyword>. India’s most affordable housing cities in 2022 Kolkata, with a value of 192 is still on track to remain the most affordable residential market in the country among the top seven cities with Pune (183) and Hyderabad (174) close second. All three cities are likely to register lower affordability for 2022 and 2023, the report said. “Mumbai has been the fastest-moving city in terms of its HPAI score improvement and became an affordable market with its threshold hitting 100. It is likely to slip below the threshold value of an affordable market but only slightly given all the macroeconomic headwinds and remain much above its HPAI low of 43 in 2013,” said JLL. JLL Home Purchase Affordability Index (HPAI) signifies whether a household earning an average annual income (at an overall city level) is eligible for a housing loan on a property in the city, at the prevailing market price. A value of 100 means that a household has exactly enough income to qualify for a housing loan. Going below that marker means an average household does not have enough income to qualify for a housing loan. Chennai (161) and Bengaluru (167) have relatively good affordability levels, the report added. Affordability to still remain attractive JLL Research’s analysis revealed that affordability was at its highest in 2021 with decadal low interest rates, attractive prices and household income recovery all coming together to create the perfect storm. In 2022, affordability gains have been slightly mitigated as inflationary pressures have caused developers to pass on the rise in input costs to the buyers and the RBI’s repo rate hikes have resulted in higher home loan costs. The current year is likely to see household incomes rise by an average of 7%. Residential prices have also risen driven by robust demand and pass-through of rising input costs onto homebuyers, with the price growth averaging 4-10% across the major cities, the report added. “What remains pertinent is that we are coming off an 18-month period of a robust recovery in residential demand even as prices and interest rates have moved up during the latter part of this timeframe,” said Krishnan. “Affordability despite the estimates of a decline will still remain quite attractive and second best only to 2021,” he added. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/go-after-big-smugglers-sending-mountains-of-illegal-drugs-into-the-country-fm-to-enforcement-agencies/articleshow/96001566.cms">Go after big smugglers sending 'mountains' of illegal drugs into the country: FM to enforcement agencies</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/indias-services-sector-output-growth-hits-3-month-high-in-nov-on-strong-demand/articleshow/96001482.cms">India's services sector output growth hits 3-month high in Nov on strong demand</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/upcoming-whatsapp-new-features-in-2023/articleshow/95998284.cms">Check out upcoming new WhatsApp features in 2023</a>

Kolkata, Hyderabad and Pune remain India’s most affordable residential cities: JLL

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Avian flu, or bird flu, has been detected among cattle and chickens in multiple states.</li><li>Pasteurized animal products should still be safe to consume.</li></ul>Since the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (or, bird flu) reached cows and hens, there have been concerns about the safety of produce, and whether Americans should avoid certain foods.The USDA said that as of now, there is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/news/agency-announcements/federal-state-veterinary-public-health-agencies-share-update-hpai">no concern</a> that this should pose a risk to consumers. At the same time, it noted that this is a "rapidly evolving situation."The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/news/agency-announcements/usda-fda-cdc-share-update-hpai-detections-dairy-cattle">USDA</a> reported cases of HPAI in cattle herds across multiple states on March 25. As of Tuesday, that virus had reached chickens in Texas, <a target="_blank" href="https://calmainefoods.gcs-web.com/node/13596/pdf">Cal-Maine Foods announced</a>, "resulting in the depopulation of approximately 1.6 million laying hens" as a precaution.<a target="_blank" href="https://cals.cornell.edu/samuel-david-alcaine">Dr. Samuel Alcaine</a>, an associate professor of food science at Cornell University, said the USDA and CDC have been <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bird-flu-avian-influenza-outbreak-us-h5n1-wiping-out-everything-2023-4">tracking avian flu for a while now</a>, but the recent detection of it in cows is a new development."Overall, I don't think there's a significantly increased risk to the US consumer as long as they're already following the basic food safety practices that we should be following at home anyways," he said.Still, he shared the measures you can take to stay safe.<h2>Most animal products are safe to eat</h2>The US agriculture industry has strict protocols about quarantining sick animals so as not to spread the virus, The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/05/well/eat/bird-flu-dairy-milk-eggs.html">New York Times reported</a>.Additionally, most commercial animal products, such as milk, cheese, and liquid eggs (egg yolks) go through a pasteurization process.Alcaine said that according to existing research on the avian flu, "the temperatures that we use for pasteurization are more than adequate to inactivate the virus."<h2>Embrace firm egg yolks</h2>To be extra safe, fully cook your meat and eggs, said Alcaine. Just as you would to prevent <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/salmonella-outbreak-linked-to-raw-dough-3-people-in-hospital-2023-3">salmonella</a> or <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/e-coli-outbreak-sickening-people-multiple-states-ohio-michigan-2022-8">E.coli</a> infections, you should cook meat and eggs at hot-enough temperatures to prevent illness.According to the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/communication/salmonella-and-eggs.html">CDC's salmonella guidelines</a>, you'll want to cook eggs until both the egg and yolk are firm, such as hard-boiled or scrambled eggs. (You can also use pasteurized eggs if you're craving them poached.)<h2>Cook meat to the right internal temperature</h2>For meat, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/keep-food-safe.html">the CDC recommends</a> cooking ground meats to 160°F and poultry to 165°F.Additionally, Alcaine said you'll want to be wary of cross-contamination, such as keeping the utensils used to handle raw meat and eggs away from cooked food.<h2>Raw animal products can carry bacteria</h2>Most states require dairy products to be pasteurized, and any products that cross state lines must be pasteurized by federal law, Dr. Sumiko Mekaru, the vice president of research &amp; innovation at PHC Global, a bio risk threat intelligence platform provider, <a target="_blank" href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/bird-flu-outbreak-poses-risk-safety-americas-food/story?id=108856122">told ABC News</a>.However, <a target="_blank" href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/raw-milk-legal-states">some states</a> allow the sale of raw milk and unpasteurized cheese, which have been <a target="_blank" href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/03/10/the-alt-right-rebrand-of-raw-milk-00145625">growing in popularity</a> over recent years.While Alcaine said that there's no evidence yet that this particular virus is spread through eating raw food, "we do know that things like raw milk also have issues with salmonella and listeria contamination."In general, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/is-raw-unpasteurized-milk-healthy-safe-to-drink-2019-12">drinking raw milk</a> can lead to side effects like vomiting and diarrhea, and just to be safe, the <a target="_blank" href="https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/2024/han00506.asp">CDC also suggests</a> abstaining in light of this recent outbreak.

What you need to know about eating meat, dairy, and eggs during the bird flu outbreak, according to a food safety expert

The rise in <keyword id="6468581" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="housing-prices" source="Orion">housing prices</keyword> and mortgage rates have impacted affordability levels to buy homes in the last two years across seven major cities but it may improve next year due to a likely reduction in repo rate, according to JLL India. The improvement in affordability levels would further boost housing sales, which have risen despite increases in property prices and interest rates on home loans. The consultant on Sunday released its 'Home Purchase Affordability Index' (HPAI), which signifies whether a household earning an average annual income (at an overall city level) is eligible for a housing loan on a property in the city at the prevailing market price. "The rising repo rate in 2022 as the RBI reacted to the global recessionary and inflationary trends, plus a strong demand recovery spurring price hikes, worsened affordability in 2022," the report said. In 2023, the consultant said that affordability levels are likely to marginally worsen or remain the same when compared to 2022. A stronger price increase has been countered by stagnancy in repo rate movement, declining <keyword id="22195" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="inflation" source="Orion">inflation</keyword> and relatively higher growth in household incomes, the consultant explained. "In 2024, we are likely to see a renaissance with affordability levels expected to be on an improving trajectory as <keyword id="493702" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="macroeconomic" source="Orion">macroeconomic</keyword> fundamentals support a repo rate reversal and thereby interest rate reduction that could provide another fillip to the residential sales market," the report said. JLL expects a 60-80 basis points reduction in repo in the next year. It has derived this index through a combination of variables, which include home loan interest rates, average household income and price of the residential apartment. The HPAI is the ratio of the average household income to the eligible household income. Eligible household income is defined as the minimum income that a household should earn to qualify for a home loan on a 1,000-square-foot apartment at the prevailing market price. A value of 100 means that a household has exactly enough income to qualify for the loan. A value less than 100 implies that an average household does not have enough income to qualify for a housing loan. A value of more than 100 implies that an average household has more than enough income to qualify for a home loan. As per the data, the affordability index in Mumbai is estimated to dip to 88 from 92. In Delhi NCR, the index is seen declining to 121 from 125. The Index of Bengaluru is estimated to have dipped to 158 from 168. The index in Hyderabad is seen at 169 against 174 last year. Pune will witness a marginal fall to 182 from 183, while Kolkata will see a marginal improvement to 194 from 193. The affordability index of Chennai is estimated to be flat at 162 this year. JLL India noted that affordability was at its lowest in 2013 before rising on a sustained basis through 2014 to hit optimal levels in 2021. "Despite residential price hikes being sustained in 2023, better economic and job prospects and healthier income growths compared to 2022 have led to a relatively minor dip in affordability in 2023. "In fact, affordability levels remain much above the pre-COVID and worst affordability periods for all cities, clearly highlighting the headroom for market growth to continue," said Siva Krishnan, Managing Director and Head of Residential Services, India, JLL.

Affordability levels to buy homes hit in last 2 years; to improve in 2024 on likely repo rate cut: JLL

<ul><li>Positive economic data, lowering inflation and timely project completion is expected to drive home sales in 2024 too.</li><li>The possibility of interest rate cuts in 2024 can be another driver for residential home sales.</li><li>Hybrid work policies, love for amenities and community living will determine choice of homes.</li><li>Changing lifestyle preferences of tier-2 and tier-3 consumers expected to drive more branded home developments from Chandigarh to Coimbatore. </li></ul> Indian home sales are all set to hit a 15-year peak in 2023, with over 3 lakh residential units purchased. Come 2024, they will go higher as lower inflation will push more fence-sitters ahead in addition to all around positivity around the Indian economy. There is also another key factor that will drive more people to buy homes. Grade A developers who are completing their projects on a war-footing, providing a supply of new-homes. “Timely project completion is giving a major boost to overall consumer sentiments, and they are coming forward to take the plunge,” Anuj Puri, chairman of <keyword id="6354553" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="real-estate" source="Orion">real estate</keyword> consultancy Anarock group, tells Business Insider India. Pricier yet affordable Residential home sales for the ongoing festive quarter have been 30% higher than that of 2022. Thanks to heavy demand and new launches, the prices of homes have also been going up. A few micro-markets, in and around the tech hubs of Hyderabad, Bangalore and Pune, prices have shot up by anywhere between 25-33%. “Capital value growth is expected to witness divergent trends across micro-markets and property categories and will largely be governed by unsold inventory levels and inventory overhangs,” says Anshuman Magazine, chairman &amp; CEO - India, South-East Asia, Middle East &amp; Africa, CBRE. Whitefield in Bangalore, Gachibowli in Hyderabad and Wagholi in Pune are some of the micro-markets that have seen good price appreciation. Overall, across the top 7 cities, the average growth in property prices has been anywhere between 8-10%. As per Anarock, it’s expected to see at least 12% increase in 2024. Emerging infrastructure is also expected to push for price growth. Mumbai Metro Connectivity in the western suburbs has pushed up the housing demand in the Andheri-Borivali belt significantly. “With the backdrop of tremendous infrastructural development going on in full swing across the cities and states, we foresee the emergence of newer micro-markets as well as the strengthening of the existing ones. Similarly, the demand for housing in other cities and peripheries is expected to grow, owing to the phenomenal connectivity boost, leading to price growth across the targeted micro-markets,” Dhaval Ajmera, director, Ajmera Realty tells Business Insider India. While home prices might turn pricier, there is a chance that the net costs of home buying may go down if interest rates ease. The central bank has kept base interest rates unchanged for the fifth consecutive time in December. A few experts hope that a lower interest rate cycle might kick off in the coming year. "In 2024, we are likely to see a renaissance with affordability levels expected to be on an improving trajectory as macroeconomic fundamentals support a repo rate reversal and thereby interest rate reduction that could provide another fillip to the residential sales market," said a JLL report Home Purchase Affordability Index' (HPAI). The depreciation of the rupee against major global currencies, together with stable economic conditions in India is also a factor. "A notable trend has been the heightened interest in Indian real estate from NRIs. The advancement of technology has streamlined the process of property management from far away which has boosted NRIs confidence in Indian real estate as an avenue for investment, said Saurabh Garg, Co-founder &amp; Chief Business Officer, NoBroker. Space not price is the criteria Indians’ love for spacier and larger homes might not go away and are ready to shell out more. The lockdown-era love for people needing more space will not reverse as fast as companies went back from work-from-home policies. Lingering hybrid work policies are expected to keep people yearning for workstations inside homes that support remote work and flexi-living. It indicates a long-term shift in behaviour. “Buyer demand for large homes is still high, even in light of impending changes to laws about remote work. This tendency is anticipated to continue, reshaping the real estate market in 2024 as people look for homes that strike a balance between comfort, usefulness, and adaptability to changing work environments,” said Manju Yagnik, VC of Nahar Group. Indians will no longer base their home buying decisions on affordability alone. More factors have come into play like health &amp; safety, community living, sustainability, and integration of smart home technologies. “Home buyers are expected to continue to display strong preferences for projects which offer enhanced accessibility to essential infrastructure, ancillary amenities and thoughtfully designed indoor and outdoor spaces – which will propel the demand for this segment going forward,” says Magazine. Emerging tier-2, tier-3 opportunity Growing affluence in smaller cities and towns is also building demand for branded homes. Many developers will be going beyond top 8 cities where demand for amenities-driven homes is going up. Most of this demand is seen in tier 2 &amp; 3 cities such as Lucknow, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Coimbatore and Chandigarh. “What aids the real estate market in these smaller towns and cities is their affordable prices as against big cities and the superior infrastructure that many of these Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities provide,” said Chitnis. There is a lot of home-buying interest by NRIs in such cities too, especially Kochi and Ahmedabad. That’s where a chunk of the new demand for the coming year will come from. These regions provide profitable prospects for developers and homeowners, say developers. “Our prognosis for continued development is positive beyond the top 7 and 8 cities. We anticipate a spike in major branded properties due to growing demand and promising development opportunities in emerging economies. This growth is driven by greater connectivity, changing lifestyle preferences, and infrastructure developments,” says Yagnik. ALSO READ: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/markets/news/midcaps-will-move-but-not-as-fast-in-2024/articleshow/106143826.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Bulls &amp; Bubbles: Midcaps will move but not as fast in 2024</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/webstories/mukesh-ambani-to-savitri-jindal-indias-richest-in-2023-and-their-wealth-change/slidelist/106175315.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Mukesh Ambani to Savitri Jindal: India's richest in 2023 and their wealth change </a>

Real estate market on the boil but homes will still be ‘affordable’ in 2024

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A deadly bird flu has been killing chickens, turkeys, wild birds, and even some mammals.</li><li>So far, it has only infected one person in the US, who had a mild illness. </li></ul>Around January of last year, birds across the US, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/04/09/1091491202/bird-flu-2022-avian-influenza-poultry-farms#:~:text=wigeon%20duck%20in%20South%20Carolina%20tested%20positive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">from South Carolina</a> to New Hampshire, started dropping dead. Geese, ducks, even eagles were being killed off by a deadlier-than-usual bird flu, called H5N1, which had already wreaked havoc across much of Europe and Asia.Today H5N1 — a type of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) — has led to the deaths (through both infections and cullings) of a <a href="https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenza-bird-flu/avian-flu-strikes-more-poultry-6-states-virus-found-dead-seals-russia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">record-breaking</a> <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/animalhealth/animal-disease-information/avian/avian-influenza/hpai-2022/2022-hpai-commercial-backyard-flocks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">58.2 million farm birds nationwide</a>, including turkeys and chickens. It's one of the big reasons that <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-price-outlook/summary-findings/#:~:text=Following%20an%20outbreak%20of%20Highly%20Pathogenic%20Avian%20Influenza%20(HPAI)%2C%20egg%20prices%20had%20the%20largest%20price%20increase%20(32.2%20percent)%20of%20any%20category%20tracked%20by%20ERS%20between%202021%20and%202022." target="_blank" rel="noopener">egg prices soared</a> in 2022.In addition to killing an unusually high number of both wild and domestic birds, this bird flu has also <a href="https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/influenza/avian-and-other-zoonotic-influenza/h5-risk-assessment-dec-2022.pdf?sfvrsn=a496333a_1&amp;download=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">infected at least six people</a> worldwide, including <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2022/s0428-avian-flu.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one patient in the US</a> who suffered mild symptoms. But, so far, there's no evidence that the virus can transmit from person to person, which is why experts continue to stress that the risk to the public is low — for now."That's the tricky thing about avian influenza viruses — they mutate very fast," veterinarian and poultry expert Thainá Landim de Barros, an assistant professor at The Ohio State University, told Insider.Here are three key charts to help you make sense of where the bird flu outbreak stands right now, and where it could be headed next. <h2>This bird flu has spread with alarming efficiency across the entire country</h2><div type="image" title="map showing states where bird flu has been identified - 47 states, with iowa as a hotspot" height="564" width="828" msid="97743783" hostid="261" sizebytes="20100"></div>Since January 2022, bird flu has been identified in poultry in 47 US states. And all 50 states have recorded cases of the illness in wild birds, according to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/avian-flu-summary.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>. This bird flu outbreak is staggering in comparison to previous US outbreaks when it comes to both the spread, and the devastation. Already, the 2022-2023 outbreak has killed 8 million more poultry than the once-record-breaking 2014-2015 bird flu outbreak did. That bird flu season had been considered as "arguably the most significant animal health event in US history" <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/emergency_management/downloads/hpai/presentation/finalreport14-15_shortppt.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by the USDA. </a>Since then, there have <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/emergency_management/downloads/hpai/finaloutbreakreport_shortppt.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">only been two</a> much smaller highly pathogenic <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/emergency_management/downloads/hpai/h7-hpai-lpai-finalreport.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bird flu outbreaks</a><a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/emergency_management/downloads/hpai/h7-hpai-lpai-finalreport.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">,</a> each responsible for the deaths of fewer than 500,000 domestic birds across a total of five states combined."This particular strain of the virus has adapted to affecting poultry and causing very severe disease," veterinarian Julie Gauthier, assistant director of poultry health at the USDA, <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/pest-disease/defend-flock/webinar-navigate-ai-transcript-sep2022-eng.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said during a bird flu briefing</a> in September. Most <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/avian-in-birds.htm#:~:text=HPAI%20A(H5)%20or%20A,chickens%2C%20often%20within%2048%20hours." target="_blank" rel="noopener">chickens who get it will die</a>, and die quickly.<h2>This bird flu has also spread to at least 16 different mammal species, including humans</h2><div type="image" title="map showing all mammals across US that have been detected w highly pathogenic bird flu" height="773" width="993" msid="97743785" hostid="261" sizebytes="51164"></div>Mammal-to-mammal transmission of H5N1 was recently recorded <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/incredibly-concerning-bird-flu-outbreak-spanish-mink-farm-triggers-pandemic-fears" target="_blank" rel="noopener">between mink on a farm in Spain</a>, and the virus has also <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.07.29.501155v1.full.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">likely</a> been transmitted <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/assessment-of-risk-associated-with-recent-influenza-a(h5n1)-clade-2.3.4.4b-viruses" target="_blank" rel="noopener">between seals</a> in <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/2022-2023-pinniped-unusual-mortality-event-along-maine-coast#:~:text=positive%20for%20highly%20pathogenic%20avian%20in%EF%AC%82uenza%20(HPAI)%20H5N1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the US</a>, suggesting that it's possible this virus could be a few key genetic changes away from something with pandemic potential for people.In the US, the virus has been found in at least 16 mammal species including red foxes, skunks, raccoons, and even a bottlenose dolphin and black bear.Many of the <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/animalhealth/animal-disease-information/avian/avian-influenza/hpai-2022/2022-hpai-mammals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mammals</a> that have contracted bird flu <a href="https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-avian-flu-found-in-foxes-and-otters-in-the-uk/#:~:text=In%20all%20likelihood%2C%20the%20affected%20individuals%20will%20have%20scavenged%20infected%20wild%20bird%20carcasses%2C%20which%20may%20have%20had%20very%20high%20viral%20loads." target="_blank" rel="noopener">feast on wild birds</a>, or come in contact with them regularly in the wild.Leading bird flu expert Richard Webby, an infectious disease researcher at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, says "there does seem to be an increase" in the sheer number of mammals across the US and Europe getting severely ill with this particular bird flu."It does look like this one is a bit nastier, and a little bit more able to cause severe disease in these scavenging mammals," he told Insider, explaining that there is often a "large amount of virus" found in the brains of mammals who've died with H5N1.<h2>We're not even at the peak of bird flu season just yet</h2><div type="image" title="graph showing avian influenza trends month by month - with the season generally peaking in mid feb - early march" height="320" width="688" msid="97743790" hostid="261" sizebytes="11024"></div>Highly pathogenic bird flus aren't new. Since 2005, scientists have reported more than 18,600 outbreaks of bird flu to the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH). This particular strain of bird flu was first identified in a goose in 1996.<a href="https://www.woah.org/app/uploads/2023/01/hpai-situation-report-20230106.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">According to the WOAH</a>, bird flu "spread is lowest in September, begins to rise in October, and peaks in February," which means it's possible we haven't seen the worst of this season's bird flu fatalities yet. For now, if you see birds exhibiting tell-tale symptoms of the flu, like coughing, sneezing, purple bruising, or staggering around, don't touch them, and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/avian-in-other-animals.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">don't let your pets nibble on bird carcasses</a> either. Contact <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-should-i-do-if-i-find-sick-or-dead-wildlife" target="_blank" rel="noopener">local wildlife authorities</a> if you see birds acting weird, or spot dead ones lying around. "Just leave wild birds, and also mammals, where they are," de Barros said. If you keep chickens or turkeys in your backyard, be on alert for signs of the virus, which can also include swelling in the head and in the legs, nasal discharge, and diarrhea.

Bird flu has led to the deaths of more than 50 million farm birds and sickened dozens of mammals. 3 charts show whether humans should be worried.

By Yoshita Singh United Nations, Jul 7 () Global outbreaks like COVID-19 will become more common and increasingly prevalent if countries do not take effective steps to curb zoonotic diseases that pass from animals to humans, a report by the UN has said. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) on Monday launched the report- 'Preventing the next pandemic: Zoonotic diseases and how to break the chain of transmission'. "People look back to the influenza pandemic of 1918–1919 and think that such disease outbreaks only happen once in a century," head of scientific assessments at UNEP Maarten Kappelle said. "But that's no longer true. If we don't restore the balance between the natural world and the human one, these outbreaks will become increasingly prevalent," he said. UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said that as nations seek to build back better after COVID-19, "we need to fully understand the transmission of zoonoses, the threats they pose to human health and how to minimise the risk of further devastating outbreaks. "COVID-19 is one of the worst zoonotic diseases, but it is not the first. Ebola, SARS, MERS, HIV, Lyme disease, Rift Valley fever and Lassa fever preceded it. In the last century we have seen at least six major outbreaks of novel coronaviruses," she said. Zoonotic diseases are infections that jump between animals and humans, some of which have led to severe illnesses and deaths. The coronavirus outbreak has so far claimed 500,000 lives globally. It originated from a wildlife food market in China's Wuhan city. The Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) or bird flu in 1996, Nipah virus infection in 1998, Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003 and the Swine acute diarrhoea syndrome (SADS) in 2016 all emerged in Guangdong, China, the report's data said. She said nations need to invest in ending the over-exploitation of wildlife and other natural resources, farming sustainably, reversing land degradation and protecting ecosystem health. "We were warned that the current pandemic was a matter of if, not when. It is a human failing that we predict but not prepare. Now we must become more proactive to avoid another pandemic and address endemic zoonotic diseases. This means recognising that human health, animal health and planetary health cannot be separated, and planning our responses accordingly," she said. The report said that 60 per cent of the 1,400 microbes known to infect humans originated in animals. It also noted that apart from contagions like COVID-19, neglected zoonotic diseases such as anthrax, bovine tuberculosis, rabies and Japanese encephalitis kill at least two million people every year, mostly in developing countries, which have communities with complex development problems, high dependence on livestock and proximity to wildlife. Zoonotic diseases have plagued societies since Neolithic times and were responsible for some of history's deadliest pandemics, including the bubonic plague of the late Middle Ages and the influenza pandemic of the early twentieth century. UNEP noted that as the world's population edges towards 8 billion, rampant development is putting humans and animals in increasingly close quarters, making it easier for diseases to vault between species. Andersen added that growth in humanity and its activity is largely to blame for increasing frequency of zoonotic diseases. She said meat production has increased by 260 per cent in 50 years, agriculture has intensified, infrastructure expanded and resources extracted at the expense of wild spaces. Dams, irrigation and factory farms are linked to 25 per cent of infectious diseases in humans. Travel, transport and food supply chains have erased borders and distances. Climate change has contributed to the spread of pathogens. "The end result is that people and animals, with the diseases they carry, are closer than ever," she said. Eric Fèvre, a professor of veterinary infectious diseases at the University of Liverpool and a jointly appointed ILRI researcher said, "as we exploit more marginal areas, we are creating opportunities for transmission. There is an increasing risk of seeing bigger epidemics and, eventually, a pandemic of the COVID-19 type as our footprint on the world expands." The report also noted that cost of zoonotic epidemics is steep. The International Monetary Fund has predicted that COVID-19 alone will cause the global economy to contract by 3 per cent this year, wiping out USD 9 trillion in productivity through 2021. But even in the two decades before the pandemic, the World Bank estimated that zoonotic diseases had direct costs of more than USD 100 billion. In order to prevent future outbreaks, countries need a coordinated, science-backed response to emerging zoonotic diseases, says Delia Grace, lead author of the report as well as a veterinary epidemiologist at ILRI and professor of food safety at the UK's Natural Resources Institute. UNEP and ILRI are urging governments to embrace an inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary approach called One Health. It calls on states not only to buttress their animal as well as human healthcare systems, but also to address factors - like environmental degradation and increased demand for meat – that make it easier for diseases to jump species. Co-author of the assessment and UNEP's Chief of Wildlife Doreen Robinson says it's also important for governments to better understand how zoonotic diseases work. That could help the world avoid another pandemic on the scale of COVID-19. YAS RS AKJ RS RS

Zoonotic diseases need to be curbed to prevent outbreaks like COVID-19: UN

<ul class="summary-list"><li>China has reported an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu in Hunan province, an area that lies on the southern border of the province where the coronavirus emerged, the <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3048566/china-reports-outbreak-deadly-bird-flu-among-chickens-hunan">South China Morning Post</a> reported.</li><li>Although no human cases have been reported in the outbreak yet, the illness is deadlier than the coronavirus and SARS. </li><li>It's difficult to transmit the bird flu from person-to-person, but the mortality rate of the disease is about 60%.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>In the shadow of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/wuhan-coronavirus">Wuhan coronavirus</a> outbreak, a lesser-known, but deadlier disease has emerged in a province near the center of the virus. According to the <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3048566/china-reports-outbreak-deadly-bird-flu-among-chickens-hunan">South China Morning Post</a>, China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs reported an outbreak of the often-fatal H5N1 bird flu in thousands of chickens in the Hunan province, which sits on the southern border of the Hubei province, the center of the coronavirus."The farm has 7,850 chickens, and 4,500 of the chickens have died from the contagion. Local authorities have culled 17,828 poultry after the outbreak," read a statement by China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on February 1.There are no reported human cases of the H5N1 avian flu, according to SCMP, and transmission of the disease to humans is difficult. Nearly all cases of the avian flu infection in people have been associated with "close contact with infected live or dead birds, or H5N1-contaminated environments," according to the <a href="https://www.who.int/influenza/human_animal_interface/avian_influenza/h5n1_research/faqs/en/">World Health Organization</a>. However, the outbreak is a cause for concern because the contagion is often fatal, with a 60% mortality rate among infected humans - that's even deadlier than SARS or the coronavirus. Additionally, the H5N1 bird flu can cause severe respiratory illness, including pneumonia, and neurological changes such as an altered mental state or seizures."If the H5N1 virus were to change and become easily transmissible from person to person while retaining its capacity to cause severe disease, the consequences for public health could be very serious," a statement from WHO read. The <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/h5n1-virus.htm">Center for Disease Control and Prevention</a> echoed concerns of the H5N1 bird flu for its "pandemic potential" due to the volatility of flu viruses."Flu viruses are constantly changing and animal <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/flu">flu viruses</a> can change such that they may gain the ability to infect people easily and spread among people, causing a pandemic," read a statement from the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/h5n1-virus.htm">CDC.</a>Like the coronavirus, the H5N1 avian flu was first detected in geese in China in 1996. The first human cases of the contagion occurred in 1997 amid a poultry outbreak in Hong Kong. The most recent case was reported in January 2014 from an individual who had recently returned to Canada from China."To date, there have not been any reports of HPAI Asian H5N1 virus infections in people in the United States and Asian H5N1 has never been detected in US birds or poultry," the CDC clarified. The news of this secondary outbreak comes as China grapples with containing the coronavirus outbreak in its borders, which has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-virus-everything-we-know-deadly-2019-ncov-wuhan-spread-2020-1">killed over 900 in China and infected 40,000 globally</a>. According to <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/10/804387615/china-reports-nearly-100-deaths-in-a-single-day-from-coronavirus">NPR</a>, nearly 100 deaths were reported on Sunday alone, the highest single-day death toll since the outbreak emerged two months ago.China's swift report of this secondary outbreak may be due to criticism of its slow response to the coronavirus. Although the first human case of the illness was discovered in December, the country did not announce the threat of the outbreak to citizens or world leaders until January. As China <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-inside-new-hospital-panic-built-contain-outbreak-2020-2">races to build new hospitals</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/no-food-crowded-hospitals-wuhan-first-week-in-coronavirus-quarantine-2020-1">replenish food</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-outbreak-disruption-medical-supplies-respirator-masks-2020-2">test kits, and other critical medical supplies</a> to combat coronavirus, another health threat would further stress already strained health care resources.<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-virus-everything-we-know-deadly-2019-ncov-wuhan-spread-2020-1">The Wuhan coronavirus has killed more than 900 people and infected over 40,000. Here's everything we know about the outbreak.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-cities-ghost-towns-on-first-working-day-amid-coronavirus-2020-2">China's biggest cities looked like ghost towns on the first day back to work after Lunar New Year, as the deadly coronavirus continues to spread</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/indian-crew-coronavirus-quarantined-diamond-princess-2020-2">'Soon we will all be infected': Indian crew on quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship pleads for help as coronavirus cases spike</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-vaccine-could-take-years-timeline-and-cost-2020-2">The Wuhan coronavirus has now claimed more lives than SARS. Top scientists told us it could take years and cost $1 billion to make a vaccine to fight the epidemic.</a></li></ul>

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