Jakarta – About 50 people from North Sumatra's Karo regency living in Greater Jakarta staged a peaceful rally near the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle Saturday, protesting the government's decision to name Karo a bird flu affected area.

"The decision is premature. It only causes material losses to our brothers who are poultry breeders and traders there," one of the protesters, Anderson Ginting, said as quoted by Tempointeraktif.

Poultry breeders in Karo have seen their daily income drop drastically since bird flu cases were reported in the regency.

The Health Ministry confirmed last week that a man died of bird flu in Kubu Sembelang, Karo. The result brought the total cases of bird flu in Indonesia to 43, with 33 fatalities, second only to Vietnam.

North Sumatra joins Jakarta, West Java and other parts of Indonesia that have been affected by bird flu.