Indonesia will impose a ban on raising poultry in residential areas after four people died of avian influenza in the country within four days last week, a minister said here Monday.

Minister of People Welfare and Poverty Alleviation Aburizal Bakrie said the policy is aimed at separating human from the animals as the risks of virus transmitting grow.

"This is an emergency situation. It will be easier to handle if human beings are separated away from the animals," he said at the Health Ministry office.

The minister said provincial administrators will map out the high-risk areas in their provinces and ban residents to raise chickens or ducks and other animals.

Indonesia, which has been hardest hit, has become one of the frontlines in the fight against the H5N1 virus.

Sixty-one out of 79 people contracted by bird flu have died in the vast archipelago country, according to the health ministry.

Experts have warned international community of the risks of the disease should Indonesia fail to prevent the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus from spreading.

Millions of people can be killed should the virus mutate into a certain level, which can make it transmittable among humans.

The huge territory, back yard cantered farming and relatively lack of budget have hampered the authorities in the country from fighting the disease.

Source: Xinhua