Bird Flu Case Appears, Sandiaga Ensures Foreign Tourists From China Are Supervised

Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy (Menparekraf) Sandiaga Uno. Antara/(Kemenparekraf Public Relations)

JAKARTA - The Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy (Menparekraf) Sandiaga Uno revealed that to date there have been no reports regarding the mutation of bird flu cases to humans following the discovery of bird flu cases in China.

Sandiaga also said that his party welcomed the arrival of foreign tourists to Indonesia, especially those from China, in parallel with this, he said related agencies also regularly monitor health protocols for tourists from this Bamboo Curtain country.

"As of today, no mutation has been seen in humans, but we hope that this case will continue to be monitored to ensure that there is no effect of the bird flu on tourists coming from abroad, including from China," he said in The Weekly Brief with Sandi Uno, reported by ANTARA, Monday, 6 March.

As previously reported, the Hong Kong Health Authority found a new case of bird flu type H5N6 that struck a 49-year-old man living in Qingyuan, Guangdong Province, China.

The man had previous contact with live poultry before developing some symptoms, according to the Hong Kong Center for Health Protection (CHP) quoted by local Chinese media on Saturday.

The man first developed symptoms on December 17, 2022, and four days later received treatment at the hospital.

Currently, his condition is very serious, said the CHP which is under the auspices of the Hong Kong Health Department.

Meanwhile, Class I Port Health Office (KKP) at Soekarno-Hatta Airport (Soetta) is increasing monitoring of the entry of people from abroad to Indonesia through the airport following the finding of H5N1 Avian Flu cases in Cambodia.

Head of KKP Soetta Airport Naning Pranoto in Tangerang, Friday (3/3) said the increased supervision was carried out as a follow-up to a circular from the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) to carry out surveillance at entry and exit points at international airports.