JAKARTA (AFP) - The United States welcomed Indonesia's decision to lift a ban on sharing bird flu samples with the World Health Organisation, an official said Wednesday.

"We welcome the government of Indonesia's announcement that it will immediately resume the sharing of influenza virus samples," US Secretary of Health and Human Services

"Responding to a pandemic will demand the cooperation of the world community, as no nation can go it alone," he said after the ban was lifted Tuesday.

Indonesia, the country worst hit by bird flu, stopped sending samples to the World Health Organisation (WHO) over concerns drug firms would end up using them to develop costly vaccines beyond poorer countries' budgets.

Sample-sharing is said to allow experts to track the evolution of the disease and better tackle the virus.

Firms will now need permission from a country for access to its virus samples, under a deal agreed with the WHO after two days of international talks in Jakarta.

Some 69 people have died in Indonesia from bird flu out of 89 confirmed infections. Most cases have occurred after contact with sick birds.

The WHO says the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus has infected 282 people and killed 169 of them, mostly in Southeast Asia, since the end of 2003.

Scientists worry the virus could mutate into a form easily spread among humans, leading to a global pandemic with the potential to kill millions.