Cirebon city locked down over bird flu outbreak

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon/Pekanbaru

Following the uncontrolled spread of bird flu, West Java authorities have stopped all poultry traffic into the area to prevent the problem from getting worse after the disease hit poultry farms in the province, an official said on Wednesday.

The isolation of Cirebon, which has been declared an epidemic area of bird flu in West Java, is expected to prevent a further spread of the disease, which has also hit several other regencies in Central Java.

The poultry-check operation was held in the Losari area, which is in the border and main route of poultry trucks from Central Java, Yogyakarta and East Java.

The operation is targeting chickens, quails and ducks coming from other affected areas in West Java, such as Sukabumi, Indramayu and Ciamis.

Head of animal husbandry division at Cirebon's Agriculture and Marine Office, Maharani Dewi, said the provincial administration had requested the Cirebon city administration to increase control in its border areas to prevent a further spread of bird flu, or avian influenza.

"The operation has been going on for a week and will end on April 5. After that we'll evaluate whether to continue or stop the operation," said Maharani.

She also claimed that since the operation began, no new cases of bird flu, from West Java or outside the province, had been found.

Tens of thousands of quails owned by poultry breeders in Cirebon city have died as a result of bird flu this year.

"The bird flu has put many breeders out of business, with losses estimated in billions of rupiah," she said.

No bird flu cases were reported in Cirebon last year, when the country was hit by another bird flu outbreak.

Maharani added that the bird flu cases in Cirebon came from outside the city. "We suspect that bird flu came from another city because all of the destroyed quails were from Sleman (Yogyakarta)," Maharani said.

Riau province meanwhile, which is still reportedly free of bird flu, is on alert of possible entry of infected poultry products into the province.

Head of the Riau husbandry office, Agus Tarudin, said on Wednesday that his office had instructed officials across the province to stay alert over all poultry products to prevent the disease from entering the province.

"We have also been working together with the quarantine bureau at the airport and seaports to improve control," Agus said.

He said that companies distributing poultry products would be held responsible if their products were proven to cause bird flu.

He also praised the Riau people in their response to the bird flu last year. When Riau was hit last year, chicken prices plummeted to Rp 2,500 per kilogram.

"People here are not easily influenced by the bird flu scare and still consume chicken or eggs," Agus said.