The Indonesian government has confirmed an outbreak of avian influenza among chickens in the country after blaming the death of millions of chickens on Newcastle disease in the past five months.

The Agriculture Ministry said at a press conference on Sunday evening that 4.7 million chickens in 10 provinces had died from the avian influenza, popularly known as bird flu, but no human cases had been reported so far.

The number of dead chickens accounted for about 5 percent of the national chicken population, said Sofyan Sudrajad, director general of Animal Husbandry under the ministry.

The bird flu has been in existence since August last year, when more than 2 million chickens died in the Central Java town of Pekalongan, but the government in October blamed the deaths on Newcastle disease.

The government started to further investigate the disease after Singapore's Agrifood and Veterinary Authority banned poultry import from Indonesia on Oct. 28, 2003.

The Indonesian Poultry Information Center in December singled out bird flu as the cause of the chicken deaths, prompting the agriculture ministry to hold an emergency meeting on the issue.

On Jan. 15, the animal health director and the head of quarantine office under the ministry were sent on a six-day trip to China to learn more about the disease as well as purchase the bird flu vaccine.

Despite no reported human cases, the bird flu has cost 100 people in Bali their jobs as nearly all of the one million chicken population at two villages have died since November last year.

Meanwhile, Malaysia has joined Singapore to ban poultry import from Indonesia due to bird flu scare.

Japan Monday halted chicken meat import from Indonesia, which stood at 2,215 tons in 2003.

Chicken meat supply in Bali, Central Java and Jakarta has dived in recent weeks due to bird flu scare, while many restaurants selling chicken meat or its derived products reported a sharp decline in the number of customers.

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country, is faced with the enormous task of preventing the infectious disease from affecting human beings. The avian flu has killed six people in neighboring Vietnam while one of two confirmed Thai bird flu patients also died Monday morning.

The government is preparing a bio-subversive act to prevent further spread of bird flu, which carries jail sentence against those committing to vaccine smuggling and illegal poultry husbandry.

The Agriculture Ministry has prepared a team of experts to carry out further tests Wednesday to determine the level of bird flu danger to the Indonesian people.

(Xinhua News Agency January 26, 2004)