JAKARTA (AFP) - Two people have died in Indonesia after testing positive for bird flu, the country's health ministry said Thursday.

One person died on Sumatra island and the other in an army hospital in the capital Jakarta, said Runizar Ruesin, the head of the ministry's bird flu information centre.

"They tested positive in the first test," he said, adding a second was being conducted to confirm initial results.

Positive results from two Indonesian laboratories are required for the

The deaths, if confirmed, would take Indonesia's death toll from the virus to 71, the world's highest.