TEMPO.CO, Jakarta-Pujiatmoko, Animal Health Director at the Agricultural Ministry, said that the government has anticipated the H7N9 viral case through the issuance of Minister of Agriculture Regulation No. 44/2013 that bans the import of living poultry from China.
"We always coordinate with agriculture quarantine zone to apply stringent provisions on poultry import originated from Chinese," said Pujiatmoko.
The government, he added, continues to conduct surveys on poultry market in Indonesia to observe the H7N9 viral case.
"Some people exposed to H7N9 virus were not having direct contact to poultry. This is an interesting fact because H7N9 is not lethal for poultry but lethal for humans." said Haryono, Head of Agriculture Research and Development at the Agriculture Ministry.
Haryono said that so far, there is no evidence that H7N9 can be transmitted from human to human. However, he said H7N9 virus does not cause massive sudden death to poultry, making reports of the infection delayed. To date, there is no H7N9 virus report in Indonesia but people should be aware to prevent major breakout.
ROSALINA