REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Indonesian Ministry of Health beefs up monitoring distribution in quarantine agency in airports amid the outbreak of avian influenza H7N9 in China.

Vice Minister of Health, Ali Ghufron Mukti, said government had sent warning to health institutions in Indonesia. "The virus may reach Indonesia as global movement is inevitable," Mukti said on Sunday.

Government asked several hospitals to contain patients infected by avian influenza and take the virus sample to nearest lab. He said that government would reactivate Zoonosis National Commission to gather data of animal based communicable disease.

Director General of Disease Control and Environmental Health, Tjandra Yoga Aditama, through circulating letter, warned all health departments to pay attention once sudden death of birds occured and observed people living nearby.

Quarantine Agency at Soekarno Hatta Airport have beef up their awareness and banning any birds from China. "It's a prevention measure," the Head of Quarantine Agency at Soekarno Hatta Airport, Musyafak Fauzi, said.

Several sea ports in Indonesia have also increase their alertness. Official at Tanjung Priok Port, Sofyan Gumelar, said the port would monitor every freighter coming from all countries, including from China.

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