Bird flu outbreak has been under control in Indonesia, as the numbers of new cases and the areas suspected of being contracted by the H5N1 virus, have declined, Health Minster Siti Fadillah Supari told Xinhua here Saturday.

"(The bird flu is) under control now. The number of cases can be declined, the infected areas can be isolated. There are only three provinces now being contracted," she told Xinhua through telephone.

The minister said of the 21 provinces previously contracted by the H5N1 virus, now only three of them are still contracted, the provinces of West Java, Jakarta and Banten, all located in Java island.

Recently, many cases come from the three provinces, she said.

The minister said that such progress was resulted from the comprehensive effort taken by the government since the outbreak hit the country seven months ago.

Eleven people out of 16 contracted by the virus, have died in Indonesia, according to the World Health Organization.

During the last several weeks there was no any new cases recorded in the country.

"Our effort has been comprehensive, the number of new cases has been declined," she said.

Indonesia has made serious efforts to stop the spread of the outbreak. Millions of fowls have been vaccinated and slaughtered across the country.

The country has also taken serious measures to stop the spread of the virus through a bio-security as well as an early detection of possibility of emerging the H5N1 strain nationwide in cooperation with the UN experts.

The highly pathogenic H5N1 strain is endemic in poultry in parts of Asia, which killed nearly 70 people.

Experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that passes easily among humans, just like human influenza. If it does, millions could die because they would have no immunity.

Source: Xinhua