Up till Saturday afternoon, at least 21 people suspected of suffering from avian influenza were reportedly being treated at the Sulianti Saroso hospital in north Jakarta, capital of Indonesia.

"On Saturday, three new patients were admitted. We started to treat them at 15:30 local time," Antara news agency on Sunday quoted Ilham Patu SpBS of the hospital's bird-flu information service as saying.

He said the three patients were reported to have ever been to the Ragunan Zoo in South Jakarta before showing symptoms associated with the deadly disease.

"Including a child patient died earlier, the hospital is currently handling 21 patients, namely 11 children and nine adults, " Ilham said.

He further said the condition of all the patients had actually shown improvement with the exception of Mrs K who had since Saturday had to use a respiratory device.

"Mrs K who was positively infected with the avian influenza virus H5NI had been treated since Wednesday (Sept. 21). Although she was conscious, she looked nervous," the doctor said.

Bird flu has killed four Indonesians since July this year.

The Indonesian government has increased measures to help curb the bird flu outbreak after imposing an extraordinary alert status earlier last week. So far, most of bird flu victims have been in the Greater Jakarta area.

Source: Xinhua