Bird flu scare: Centre asks states to rethink ban on sale of poultry Central teams were deployed to the affected areas of the country and they were monitoring the situation of bird flu and conducting research studies. The affected states were creating awareness through newspaper advertisements, releases, and social media posts. (File image) Share Updated: Jan 17, 2021, 10:34 AM IST With the fear of bird flu leading to a ban on selling poultry in certain places, the central government came out to ask the state governments to reconsider the ban and allow the sale of poultry products that were procured from non-infected areas.