TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan ordered the close monitoring of 21 people and the culling of 4,551 chickens after finding the H9N2 bird flu virus on the outlying island of Kinmen, reports said Friday (March 17).

H9N2 has been known to infect people, though the risk is low, according to the Council of Agriculture’s (COA) Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine (BAPHIQ). The people who had been in contact with the infected poultry in Kinmen were 20 prevention workers and one farm employee, but none had shown any related symptoms, the Liberty Times reported.

The case is the first instance of H9N2 recorded in birds in Taiwan, though worldwide there have been 97 infections of people since 2013, with 70% involving children. Two people have died of the virus, though both had a history of chronic diseases. The most recent human infection occurred in November, in the Chinese province of Hunan.

BAPHIQ advised the public not to come into close contact with poultry, to cook eggs and chicken meat before consuming them, and to wash hands with soap as part of elementary precautions.