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Indonesia boosts vigilance amid global bird flu outbreaks
The ministry has instructed health offices at seaports, airports and border crossings to increase surveillance of domestic and international travelers.
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This picture released by Cambodia's Communicable Disease Control Department (CDCD) on Feb. 23, 2023, shows villagers posing with posters about H5N1 virus threats, in Prey Veng province. (AFP/Cambodian Communicable Disease Control Department)
T
he government has called on health officials across the country to increase vigilance over a potential bird flu outbreak amid concerns that the swift mutation of the H5N1 virus in mammals could turn it into a zoonotic disease that could spread among humans.
“There has been no report of an infection among humans [in Indonesia], but we need to remain vigilant,” said Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, the ministry’s director general of disease control and prevention, in a statement released on Saturday.
The ministry has issued a circular asking health agencies at the provincial and regency levels to coordinate with agencies overseeing animal health and other stakeholders to prevent the transmission of bird flu to humans.
Each agency is required to set up health facilities for those suspected of contracting the virus, and boost its capacity to conduct laboratory tests on potential bird flu cases. The ministry has also instructed health offices at seaports, airports and border crossings to increase surveillance of domestic and international travelers.
“All hands are on deck,” Maxi said.
New H5N1 strain
