New Delhi, Nov. 8 -- The wait is finally over for animal lovers and visitors to the national capital - the Delhi zoo will reopen on Saturday, more than two months after it was shut following a bird flu outbreak.

Over the past two months, the zoo had been under lockdown, with extensive sanitisation and preventive measures carried out on the premises. No fresh positive samples have been reported since September 2.

Officials said the latest batch of samples collected on October 30 also tested negative, following which permission to reopen was sought and granted by the Union environment ministry on Thursday.

"Following the guidelines under Chapter Six of the 'Action Taken for Preparedness, Control and Containment of Avian Influenza' issued...