Indonesia recorded 16 people newly infected by A/H1N1 virus, putting the total cases to 854 in the country, Health Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

"The cumulative of the cases now become 854," director general of disease control and environmental health of the ministry Prof. Dr. Tjandra Yoga Aditama said in the statement.

More than a half of Indonesia's 33 provinces have been spread by the virus, the ministry said.

As Indonesia had been hit hardest by the avian influenza virus. Experts fear that the H1N1 virus could conduct a multiple combine with avian influenza H5N1 virus in the country that may create a new type of virus with the speed of spread similar to the A/H1N1 and the severity of attack equal to the H5N1 virus.

More than 100 people were killed by bird flu virus in Indonesia.

The archipelago country with over 17,500 islands has been on alert on the dangers of A/H1N1 virus since the severity of the threat from the virus on the third level. The World Health Organization has recently raised the alert level from five to six, which means the pandemic has occurred.

(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2009)