WELLINGTON, May 24 (Xinhua) -- A national surveillance and early-warning system designed to detect biological strikes by terrorists, biosecurity threats and disease outbreaks is being put in place to plug gaps in New Zealand's defenses, the local newspaper Press reported Wednesday.

    The report said the Environmental Science and Research (ESR), an institute which monitors new organisms and holds the national collection of medical bacteria, will run the network, dubbed SurvINZ, or Surveillance Information New Zealand. It is scheduled to be in place by the end of the year.

    "We need to have better information coming at an earlier time," said ESR Environmental Health General Manager Fiona Thomson-Carter. She said the plan involved integrating and developing a range of surveillance systems is already in place and making them more sensitive.

    Under the new system, areas already being monitored will be enhanced and integrated, including health, food and safety, water surveillance and external (international) surveillance.

    At the grassroots level, GPs around the country will be able to log on to the ESR website to access and enter information on suspicious diseases and other observations they make in their daily contact with patients and in their communities.

    End-users and contributors will include hospitals and laboratories, as well as government agencies such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

    It is expected that the police and intelligence services, rather than being contributors, will be end-users of the system. Enditem