Five more people have been confirmed dead from the virulent H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus in Indonesia. The deaths came as the United Nations warned the Indonesian authorities that they must do more to combat the spread of the disease. This report from Clare Harkey:

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The virus has been found in poultry in the majority of Indonesia's thirty three provinces. Worryingly, the latest cluster of deaths was on the island of Sumatra, not Java where the vast majority of confirmed fatalities had previously been recorded. All the Sumatran victims were reported to have been in close proximity to sick poultry.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation this week warned Indonesia that they were failing to combat the spread of the disease, both in terms of controlling animal infections and failing to increase public awareness. The Indonesian authorities say they are watching the Sumatra cluster carefully but there's no evidence that the virus was passed from human to human.

Clare Harkey, BBC

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overtook
caught up with and passed

worst-affected
most badly hit

in terms of
by way of

confirmed
provided support for the correctness of the fact

poultry
domesticated fowls (e.g. ducks, chickens, turkeys)

cluster
close group of similar things or events

fatalities
deaths

to combat
to fight against something or someone

to increase public awareness
to make people know

evidence
the available facts indicating whether a thing is true or not

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