China reports H7N9 death, more cases

Guangzhou - China reported another human H7N9 death and three more new cases, including two boys, on Saturday.

An 82-year-old man died of the bird flu in the city of Foshan, South China's Guangdong province on Friday after treatment failed, the provincial health department said in a statement.

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The department also confirmed that two boys, a six-year-old from Shenzhen and a five-year-old from Zhaoqing, are infected with the disease. Both are in a stable condition.

The third new case is a 38-year-old man from the city of Yongzhou in Central China's Hunan province. He is also in a stable condition.

Those who had close contact with him have tested negative for H7N9, according to the provincial health department.

It is the second infection in Hunan this year.

With the new cases, H7N9 has so far killed 22 people in China this year, and the number of human infections has reached 105.

With bird flu cases increasing on a daily basis, public concern over people-to-people transmission of the disease during Spring Festival is growing, but health experts said inter-human transmission was unlikely.

Live poultry trading has been halted in the southern metropolises of Shenzhen and Hangzhou, as well as Ningbo and Jinhua cities in East China's Zhejiang province, which have reported the largest number of human H7N9 cases.