The Tripura government has sounded a bird flu alert and has banned entry of poultry and poultry feed from outside the state and neighbouring Bangladesh.

The steps have been taken as a preventive measure though about 300 blood samples sent to High Security Disease Laboratory, Bhopal, tested negative, official sources said on Friday.

A separate bird flu control cell has been set up in the state and the Border Security Force has been asked to step up vigil to check any smuggling of poultry products from Bangladesh, which has been hit by the disease.

Sources said 70 rapid response teams of the animal resources department are regularly inspecting about 8,000 poultry farms and centres where poultry is sold.

Besides, hundreds of trucks that enter Tripura every day from Bangladesh are being sanitised by spraying insecticides to check the entry of the deadly H5NI virus.

A three-member expert team led by Assistant Commissioner in the Central department of Animal Resource and Milk Production S P Dasgupta held a meeting with the state government officials on Thursday to review the preparedness to combat the disease and assured Central help besides advising precautionary measures.