Jakarta – Indonesia's bird flu outbreak, which has killed up to 6.2 million chickens across the archipelago, is showing signs of abating, a top agriculture ministry official said on Thursday.

Bachtiar Moerad, director of veterinary health, said that although new bird flu cases were still being recorded on Java and Bali islands, the overall numbers had fallen in recent months compared to the peak period late last year.

"Across the board, bird flu cases have abated. Therefore, we are taking the next steps, such as restricting the traffic of day-old-chics," Moerad said without elaborating.

"We hope in the short term to declare Indonesia free [from the disease]," he said, without giving a specific time frame.

Last week, the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation urged affected nations not to restock poultry farms too quickly to prevent the disease from flaring up again.

Many Indonesian farmers have been busy restocking. "If we don't restock quickly, it affects the people's lives, unlike in the United States and other countries that have larger-scale poultry farms," said Moerad.

Bird flu spread across much of Asia from late last year, killing more than 20 people, and forcing authorities to slaughter tens of millions of fowl to halt the advance of the epidemic.